Hattie Potter and the Prisoners of Azkaban
by xisney
Summary: Hattie has to testify at Lockhart's trial that may send him to Azkaban, and Neville is determined that Sirius Black escaped to get him at Hogwarts, considering his parents are the ones who put Sirius there. Also, Quirrell is back on the loose!
1. Owl Post

Disclaimer: I acknowledge that I do not own any of the Harry Potter characters or universe. No offense is meant by the situations portrayed in this or any other fanworks.

A/N: If you haven't read the others, don't worry about it. Feel free to dive right on in. Basically this is based on the snowball effect. Starts off similar/gets disimilar, but this one doesn't have much in common. If you want a summary of the other two let me know and I'll post one.

Chapter One: Owl Post

Hattie felt like this was going to be the worst summer ever. Hermione was in France. Ron was in Egypt. And she, well, she was going to be in Azkaban. Hattie felt like they could still be petrified and she could very well be facing the basilisk.

Hattie lay down on her bed in the flat. The room next to hers was Dudley's but he hadn't been home much during the summer. When Hattie really thought about it, they hadn't spoken since last summer. She left a thank you note in Rubeus' talons for the iguana figurine he got her.

Her flower-print comforter smelt like lavender. Really, it smelt like home. It didn't matter that she wasn't on Privet Drive anymore. Her flat sat on Oriel Street, and they were about a thirty minute drive from the Burrow. They were closer to the Grangers, though Aunt Petunia still preferred to chat with Molly. She was a long way from Neville, but Aunt Petunia hooked into the Floo Network. Arthur had to pull a few strings for it, but he made sure that Hattie's influence did most of the work.

Hattie was supposed to be working because later she and Neville were going to Dean's to try out football with Seamus, but instead of working she was reading her birthday letters. Lockhart's trial still hadn't happened yet, and Aunt Petunia kept postponing when she had to go see him. Aunt Petunia kept receiving letters from his lawyer.

"Sleazy Daily Prophet attention-starved…" she heard Aunt Petunia mutter as she walked by Hattie's bedroom door. "Hattie," she said. "We're going to Azkaban tomorrow. I'm going to see if one of the Longbottoms will go with us. I was hoping I could put it off until Molly gets back."

"The trial's in less than a week, Auntie," Hattie said. "The whole trial isn't going to wait for me to talk to Mr. Beard."

Ardin Beard was Gilderoy Lockhart's lawyer. He was very well-known and prestigious, but the Weasley's found him to be the used car salesman of lawyers. Apparently not many wizard's used lawyers, and that lawyers were generally for those too lazy to think out their own representation and for those that were guilty and needed someone to smooth-talk them out of the situation they were in. Ardin Beard actually won many of his cases, despite the general opinion of lawyers being for the lazy. Aunt Petunia automatically decided to join with the Weasley's opinion, which Hattie noticed was becoming a habit of Aunt Petunia's. She no longer thought "What would the neighbours think!" but "What would the Weasleys think!" (Especially when Hattie wore clothes that Aunt Petunia deemed inappropriate. She couldn't wait to be back in a Hogwarts uniform.)

"Well it should," Aunt Petunia said, stubbornly.

"Well it won't," Hattie said, just as stubbornly.

"I'll owl the Longbottoms."

Of course, Aunt Petunia can't floo without assistance, but she's gotten comfortable enough with Rubeus, who is always in her flat, to send letters. Generally, her friends floo over after receiving the letter.

"You should get more Muggle friends," Hattie said. "It'd be easier to talk to people."

"But Muggle friends won't take us to Azkaban," Aunt Petunia said.

"Right," Hattie said, turning back to her letters.

It was hard to believe that Hattie's closed-minded Aunt currently spent the majority of her time in Wizarding society, but Hattie just accepted it because it was easier. She just hoped that her Aunt didn't feel left out or lonely.

Hattie ran her hand along Ron's letter. He wished her a happy birthday and talked about Egypt. (Aunt Petunia had the Daily Prophet clipping framed). Ron continued,

"We'll be back about a week before term starts and we'll be going up to London to get our new books. My mum says your Aunt is taking us, so I'll see you there.

"This correspondence school is terrible. Percy keeps trying to help, especially now that he's Head Boy, and the twins keep trying to give me bad advice. Sometimes I feel like Ginny knows more than I am. Hermione, too, keeps sending me letters telling me answers even though I don't need her help. Is there quicksand in Egypt? I wonder if I can push them in. Except Hermione, unless there is quicksand in France?"

Then Ron talked about his gift to Hattie, a Pocket Sneakoscope. It was to help Hattie find anyone plotting against her. He added, "Though sometimes it feels like everyone's plotting against us."

Hattie appreciated that he said "us" instead of her. Her Aunt lectured her a lot about dragging her friends down with her. Hattie felt self-conscious about it, but Ron's reminder helped out a lot.

Hermione's letter was as boring as Hattie suspected, but the Broomstick servicing kit was lovely.

Hattie noticed a letter from Ginny, though there was no parcel attached. Hattie wasn't sure how she felt about it. On the one hand, she didn't want Ginny spending money on her, but on the other hand, she didn't like the idea of Ginny not caring about her. She shrugged, saying aloud, "Well, at least I got a letter."

Aunt Petunia in the other room shouted, "What?"

Hattie shouted back, "Nothing!"

She opened the letter to find,

"Dear Hattie,

Happy birthday! For once, Ron reminded me. I would have forgotten completely because my memory is absolute rubbish.

(I hope you recognize Ron's handwriting.)

I really do wish you a happy birthday, but I'm afraid I wasn't able to get you a gift. Ron would be horrified if you found out how long he'd been saving up for his gift, so I'm going to offer something a bit more practical.

I've been looking through Ron's Defence Against the Arts books to prepare for next year, and I remembered that you had Lockhart teaching you (like he did me), so you're probably as clueless as Ron! How about if when I get back from Egypt, I show you some of the things I learned. There's this great disarming spell I use on Fred and George all the time. You're going to love it because you won't have to punch people anymore! Okay, well maybe your Aunt will be on the only one who loves it, but it's bound to be useful eventually.

Always my best wishes,  
Ginny."

Ginny, a scarf for Christmas and a lesson for her birthday. Hattie smiled at how practical the girl was, though she supposed Ginny couldn't afford to be frivolous with her brothers constantly searching for weak points. Though, Ginny did give her a moving horse when Hattie first moved into the Burrow, didn't she? Hattie thought that may have been practical in the sense of using the toy to get on Hattie's good side. It certainly helped to.

Anyway, Hattie was pretty excited to finally learn some Defence Against the Dark Arts, although she was a little hurt that someone younger than her was going to teach her. She made mental note not to let Ginny know about her own insecurity.

And then Hagrid's gift. She read the letter. Something about being useful for school? She didn't expect Hagrid to send a boring gift. She started opening the parcel to find it jumping out. It fell on the floor, opening its paper jaws and snapping at her.

Hattie stood on the bed, reading the title, "The Monster Book of Monsters."

"Aunt Petunia," she shouted. "I'm going to need a belt!"

Hattie jumped on top of the book and couldn't help but notice a few pages go flying out of it. They looked like they were about magical creatures. Aunt Petunia stepped in, startled. The belt looked like red vinyl. "Let me get a different belt," she said.

"Just give me that one," Hattie said. "I'll send it back afterwards."

"After what?" Aunt Petunia asked. "Hattie, it's going to chew through this belt and it is one of my favourites. I thought it would look nice with that blue blouse I bought you the other day."

"Sure," Hattie said, reaching for the belt. "I'll wear it after it holds this book closed." She snatched the belt out of Aunt Petunia's hand and tied up the book. She added, "I promise it will come back in one piece."

Aunt Petunia looked at the Broomstick servicing kit while Hattie opened the letter to Hogwarts. Her Aunt signed the permission slip to Hogsmeade. Then there was a loud noise from the fireplace. "Hattie!" Neville, of course.

Hattie ran into the other room, leaving the book on the floor. His mother, Alice, was with him. Aunt Petunia followed closely behind her. "You're not having a party for Hattie this year?" Alice asked. "Neville mentioned they were just visiting a friend for their birthdays."

"No," Aunt Petunia said, nervously. She felt more comfortable with Frank, Alice's husband. "It's part of Hattie's grounding, but she managed to talk me into a day out, at least."

Alice said she'd escort them to Azkaban, but that she didn't want Neville to go. "I don't understand why Beard won't just arrange to meet Hattie somewhere else," Alice said. "I'd suggest that you stay behind as well, but you wouldn't listen to me, would you?"

"I wouldn't," Aunt Petunia said. "I've heard about this place."

Alice nodded. "I think I should prepare both of you for the guards then," she said. "They're extremely large and cloaked black. They feed on happy memories and they can suck out a person's soul. Don't worry, they won't get that far with us. We will be walking with my Patronus to keep them back, but you may still feel a sense of heaviness."

Aunt Petunia's lips tightened, but she nodded, determined. "So this Patronus, is it? It will keep us safe, will it?"

"Yes," Alice said. "Just remember that we will have to stay together."

"I'll remember," Aunt Petunia said. "And I'll make sure Hattie doesn't wander off."

She gave Hattie a scolding look. And Hattie simply smiled and shrugged. "Good," Alice said. "I'll be here for you both tomorrow. I'll be early."

Aunt Petunia looked to Neville, "Are you ready to play football?"

"Yes ma'am," Neville replied.

"I'll have him back early," Aunt Petunia promised to Alice.

"Have fun," Alice said before going back through the chimney.

Aunt Petunia grabbed the letter with directions to Dean Thomas' house and then piled Hattie and Neville into the car. "One of you has to sit in the front seat," Aunt Petunia said. "I'm not your chauffer, you know."

"I think we can both squeeze into the front," Hattie said.

So Neville sat between Hattie and Aunt Petunia, feeling very childish and uncomfortable. Hattie told him he could have the window seat on the way back, but Hattie was eager to watch the scenery on the way to Dean's. At Hogwarts, everything felt entwined and old. The plants and buildings all seemed mingled together in perfect harmony. Here, in England, the plants desperately clung to a position of power, and they were clearly losing. Grass peeked out between bricks. Trees, if there were any, were given limited space to grow and live, and buildings would loom over these few trees, minimalizing and trivializing their existence.

Obviously Neville was interested in this too. At his place they had a greenhouse in the back specifically for him, but they also had a backyard. Hattie barely had a balcony. They discussed the plant phenomenon eagerly and excitedly.

Aunt Petunia played with the radio noting, "So even if you weren't a wizard, you'd probably still end up a geek," she said.

"When you raise your daughter to love roses, you should be proud that she grows to love all plants," Hattie replied, feeling wise.

Aunt Petunia scoffed. "I noticed you didn't feel that way when I put in those cactuses."

"Cacti," Neville corrected. "The plural is cacti."

"Well cacti are boring. I mean, they live in the desert," Hattie said. "All that sand, there can't be much to do."

"Well they're better than no plants," Neville said. "And it's pretty brilliant that they live in the desert considering nothing else does."

"Camels," Aunt Petunia said.

"Well no other plants live in our house," Hattie said, looking at her Aunt. No, she still resembled a giraffe more than a camel.

"I don't want any hanging plants," Aunt Petunia said. "It might bring in spiders."

"We're on the 21st floor, Auntie," Hattie said. "Any spiders that get up there deserve to live."

"I bet we could enchant some turf, Hattie," Neville said, "out on your balcony. We could get a few things to grow up there I bet, and it'd look natural enough."

"Because everyone has turf on their balcony," Hattie said, rolling her eyes.

Aunt Petunia asked, "Are you looking for a summer job, Neville? I'd love that turf on the balcony. The neighbours would be green."

"Auntie, we can't use magic inside the house," Hattie said.

Petunia scoffed. "I'm sure we could somehow get permission. I mean, people can floo into our house, so why can't we get a little leeway on magical use? We'd just have to get someone to oversee the operation to make sure it's being used appropriately, but it would give Neville good practice with spells and plants."

"Not to mention you'd get your stupid garden," Hattie said.

Now Neville and Aunt Petunia talked excitedly about what sort of plants could grow in shallow turf. Hattie pressed her forehead against the window and looked out.

Soon enough they pulled into Dean's driveway, and they rushed into the backyard to prepare for football. Aunt Petunia stepped inside to have tea with Dean's mother, but his step-father was out. Seamus already stood with Dean by the football. "This is stupid," Seamus said to Hattie and Neville. "He was serious when he told us we kick it."

Neville and Hattie had decided not to mention to Seamus and Dean that it was their birthdays to avoid either of them feeling obligated to do something special. It also helped that Aunt Petunia banned any celebration aside from whatever came through the Owl Post. Both of them just felt good to be out of their houses. Even though Neville was rubbish at football, and Hattie was furious at Neville for being this way.

Of course Neville and Hattie were on a team and Seamus and Dean were on the other. Even though Seamus thought it was stupid, he was athletic enough to be quick on his feet. Neville was interested, but slow with poor co-ordination. And Hattie was just competitive enough to care.

But they didn't fight afterwards, even though Hattie called all of them names that would make Aunt Petunia yell until her face turned blue. When the sun started to kiss the horizon, Aunt Petunia called Hattie and Neville in to take them home. Hattie sat between Neville and Aunt Petunia as promised, "But I think making us lose a football game removes window privileges."

The conversation was less lively as they drove home. Both Neville and Hattie were exhausted, and Aunt Petunia had run out of things to say. She left the radio on, and she hummed along to a few pieces she knew and liked, though most of the music was trash, in her opinion.

And as Aunt Petunia drifted through an intersection, another car ran its red light.

It smashed into Aunt Petunia's charmed car on the driver's side.

Hattie felt her neck snap sideways, as small airbags punched Neville and Aunt Petunia's faces. The windshield shattered as the car forced them into another car. Her eyes caught a wound on Aunt Petunia's forehead. She saw Neville gasping for air.

It felt like everything had slowed down. When the car stopped moving, Hattie struggled to unbuckle her seatbelt. Aunt Petunia's blue eyes locked onto Hattie and she tried to push the airbag away. "Are you all right? Is Neville all right?"

"I'm fine," Neville said. "I think my arm's broken and my leg feels numb."

Neville's leg was pinched in the crushed metal of the door, but he knew it was nothing St. Mungo's couldn't handle. But Aunt Petunia worried that they weren't going to St. Mungo's. "Hattie," she said. "Are you all right?"

Hattie felt numb, but it wasn't any broken bones. She felt like she breathed in glass. She felt trapped and terrified. "I'm okay," Hattie said. "I'm going out through the windshield."

"Hattie!" Aunt Petunia said, trying to grab Hattie.

Hattie rubbed her neck as she stepped onto the dented hood of the car. When she looked into the car that had hit him, she saw a familiar face. Hattie felt paralyzed on the windshield, her feet feeling like she was walking on burning coals. "Quirrell," she hissed.

And there he was, Professor Quirrell with a light dusting of pale brown hair. He was laughing, perhaps hysterically. Had he not seen Hattie?

And just like that, he was gone, leaving the trashed car empty behind him.

Did she tell her Aunt? Did she tell her that Quirrell just tried to kill them all?

No. They were seeing Lockhart in a prison tomorrow. And they'd be in St. Mungo's tonight. That was enough on her Aunt's plate.

She heard police sirens in the distance, and Hattie quickly asked Neville if there was some code that would send them to St. Mungo's instead of to a normal hospital. Neville was too stunned to say much. He simply kept telling Hattie that he was fine, and that it was nothing to worry about.

After going to a muggle hospital, they managed to get themselves to St. Mungo's. Aunt Petunia apologized profusely to both Longbottom adults, but they only smiled politely and told her it was all right. Neville would be fine. Aunt Petunia could see their tension.

Hattie, on the other hand, was in the hospital's owlry. The hospital had quickly fixed the bruises the seatbelt made. She had to send a note to Hermione. And one to Ron, too. Both letters read,

"Thank you for the birthday gifts. I also received a turban from a friend of ours. The weather started off stormy, but turned out pleasant. Tomorrow looks like nothing but sunshine."


	2. The Knight Bus

Disclaimer: I acknowledge that I do not own any of the Harry Potter characters or universe. No offense is meant by the situations portrayed in this or any other fanworks.  
A/N: First, there's a poll up on my main page that asks who you think Hattie should be romantically involved with. I already have some ideas, but I'd like your input. The poll will be up for a month, and there will probably be annoying reminders with every update. Should I have a poll saying who you DON'T want to see Hattie with? Maybe.  
There probably won't be any romance in this book, at least not any more than there has been in the previous books.

Chapter Two: The Knight Bus

"Hattie you should do something with your hair," Aunt Petunia said. "For God's sake, just because we're going to a jail it doesn't mean we have to look like criminals."

"I hate wearing my hair tied back," Hattie said, "and I wear the clothes you buy me, so let me wear my hair down."

"It just goes all over the place," Aunt Petunia said, "and it's so thick."

"Forget it, I'm 13 now and I'm going to wear how I like," Hattie replied.

Aunt Petunia pursed her lips, but said nothing. She fixed Hattie's shirt as they waited by the fireplace for Alice's arrival. Green flames shot through the fireplace as Alice Longbottom walked into their home. She wore red and black important-looking robes. Her round face had a serious look on it. She said, "Let's go."

They walked for a while, with Alice in front and Hattie and Petunia walking behind her like tourists with a guide. The streets were fairly empty, but Alice received a few curious glances. Aunt Petunia looked sheepish. They walked until Alice stopped them at an empty street corner. She raised her wand and Hattie recognized the faint glow that came off of it.

Moments after, there was a loud "BANG" and an enormous purple bus pulled up to them. Alice said, "I thought we'd take the Knight Bus since your car is out of commission."

Aunt Petunia's cheeks burned. She didn't want to remember what happened to her car. She blamed herself, of course. Hattie blamed Quirrell. Alice stepped aboard and the conductor gave her a nod. He tensed as she said the location they were to reach as she paid him. Aunt Petunia followed, and reimbursed Alice when they sat down.

The three sat together as the bus flew through the crowds. Hattie looked at the others on the bus, and she noticed the conductor giving her the eye, but she didn't say anything. Alice explained that the conductor was Stan Shunpike. Hattie decided against introducing herself.

When Stand told them their stop arrived, Hattie looked out to see a jagged shoreline. They all stepped out and Hattie found the shoreline thick with fog. A boat was pulled onto the sand, and a short man in a heavy robe stepped out of it, shooing the women on.

Hattie found the trip long and boring. There was nothing to see but fog, and Aunt Petunia was too ashamed to make much conversation with Alice Longbottom. And the short man seemed to have nothing to say.

So Hattie started at her feet until they arrived.

And when they arrived Ardin Beard was waiting for them. Hattie recognized his slick black hair and his painfully white smile. He seemed like the perfect lawyer for Lockhart. Aunt Petunia took Hattie's hand.

He leaned over Hattie like she was a child. "And how are you today, Miss. Potter?"

She had mixed feelings about how he didn't treat her like a celebrity. If it was someone else, she'd find it refreshing, but because it was Beard, she felt less important, insignificant.

With a happily, childish tone, she said, "I'm feeling like I'd like to get this over with."

For the first time, Alice Longbottom smiled. She said a quiet "Expecto Patronum" and a small mouse shot out of her wand. It stood on its hind legs for a moment, waiting for her. Leaving the short man behind them, the four began to walk.

Hattie instantly felt the temperature drop inside. The air grew thick with darkness. The small mouse didn't seem so small anymore; it illuminated most of the walkway. Hattie could hear screams in the distance, and she felt Aunt Petunia put her arm around her shoulders, pulling her tight. Hattie closed her eyes, but the screams only sounded clearer.

They were all silent, and even Beard didn't feel the need to fill the air with conversation. But Hattie wished they would talk so she didn't hear the screams. They were probably the screams of prisoners, but they felt all too familiar. Whenever she opened her eyes, the shadows seemed to crawl beside them. She knew they were probably dementors, but knowing what they were didn't scare her any less.

They arrived in a cell without dementors. There was a table in place, and Lockhart sat at it. His face looked hollow and his golden curls looked grayer. His eyes stared, but at nothing. Hattie had never seen a person look so hopeless and helpless. The mouse jumped on the table, and Lockhart's face lit up into a smile, and not the one he used in pictures.

"Hattie," he said as she sat down across from him. "It's so good to see you. Is this your Aunt Petunia? The one I signed the book for?"

He looked directly at Aunt Petunia. He didn't make the mistake of looking at Alice. Aunt Petunia smiled like you'd smile at someone who was dying. She put her hand on Hattie's shoulder and Ardin Beard sat down beside Lockhart. "It is," Hattie said.

"I loved your book, Mr. Lockhart," Aunt Petunia said. "I don't think I would be as comfortable as I am inside the wizarding environment without you."

"Please, call me Gilderoy. And it's such a pleasure to hear that," Lockhart said, glowing.

Ardin Beard cleared his voice. "I'm afraid we don't have much time for pleasantries," he said. "Miss. Potter, we must discuss your testimony."

"Of course," Hattie said.

They discussed what Hattie would say at the trial. Hattie said they she would simply exclude any information about Voldemort, but she said if she was asked about it she wasn't going to flat-out deny it.

"But you won't bring it up immediately?" Beard asked.

"No," Hattie said. "Not unless you think it'll help."

"I don't believe it will," Beard replied. "It will make Gilderoy look like a hero, if they believe it. But they may not, and then the issue will be clouded and I don't want to take that chance. We're going to play up the fact that Gilderoy saved the Wizarding World's saviour, Harriet Potter."

"I am grateful," Hattie said, looking into the sad eyes of Lockhart. "I don't know if I ever said thank you, but truly I am."

"My editor has my book," Lockhart said. "I was almost finished when this happened. My editor's been visiting me so I can finish it up. I am going to put this in it. Would you write the forward? You must write the forward."

Hattie wondered if Lockhart lost a few marbles in Azkaban. He seemed to ignore the fact that he was on trial. "I'll write the forward," Hattie said.

"It's going to look bad," Beard said, changing the topic back to the trial. "Killing a child to save another child, so you have to emphasize that your life was in danger."

"I'm not sure he was trying to kill me," Hattie admitted.

"Were you afraid for your life?" Beard asked.

"I was afraid of what he was going to do to me," Hattie said. "Killing me would have been a relief compared to what I feared."

"That's great," Beard said. "Your life was in danger but you were worried about being tortured."

"Yes," Hattie said.

Beard wrapped up their discussion. Lockhart looked like someone took away his favourite blanket when Hattie stood up to leave. "You're not leaving?" he asked, looking from her to Aunt Petunia. "You just got here."

Lockhart looked as if he hadn't heard any of the conversation, and Hattie thought he'd be interested because the conversation was all about him. "I'm sorry," Aunt Petunia said, giving him a sympathetic pat on his hand. "We'll see you at the trial."

Ardin Beard stayed behind while Alice walked Hattie and Aunt Petunia back out. Hattie's eyes followed the mouse as she tried to ignore the screams around her. Alice stopped at the entrance. "I have work to do here," Alice said, "so I hope you two can manage to get home on your own?"

"We should manage it," Aunt Petunia replied in a stiff fashion.

Alice nodded, adding, "Hattie, Neville expects you to floo him when you get back. Make sure he floos over to your house. I don't want him walking around on his own."

"Okay," Hattie said, assuming her fear was because of the accident.

They took the boat back across the river and called to the Knight Bus. The entire way home Aunt Petunia rambled to Hattie about how terrible Lockhart looked and how bad she felt for him. Hattie couldn't wait until Neville came over. She wanted the conversation to switch to Quirrell instead of Lockhart.

Aunt Petunia flopped on the couch as soon as they got home. "I can't believe what that place felt like. It looked like it was destroying that poor man," Aunt Petunia said.

"Can't listen anymore, flooing Neville," Hattie said, walking to the fireplace.

Neville came over seconds later, just as Aunt Petunia was getting up for tea. "Hullo Mrs. Dursley," he said. "I figured out how we can move plants to your balcony. If I charm the plants before I bring them over, we don't have to worry about casting spells in your house where underage wizarding is restricted."

"Really?" Aunt Petunia asked. "Do you want some tea?"

"Yes please," Neville said. "I can start as soon as you'd like."

"Whenever you're ready," Aunt Petunia said from the kitchen. "Your mum mentioned she didn't want you walking anywhere. I feel absolutely terrible about the accident, I hope you forgive me."

"Oh, it's not that at all," Neville said. "Dad said that accident put hair on my chest, but I didn't see any."

Aunt Petunia carried in two glasses of tea and motioned for the two children to sit. Hattie asked, "Why can't you walk anywhere?"

Neville lowered his voice and exhaled. "Did you see the muggle reports of Sirius Black?"

"Oh yes," Aunt Petunia said.

"Mum was the one who put him away," Neville explained. "Apparently before he escaped from Azkaban, he kept saying, 'He's at Hogwarts.' Mum's worried that he's going after me to get back at her."

Aunt Petunia and Hattie exchanged concerned looks. Aunt Petunia set the tray down in front of Neville and sat down beside him. "What does your Dad think?" Aunt Petunia asked.

"He tries to act like Mum's overreacting," Neville replied, "but I can tell he's afraid too. Because who else would Black be going after at Hogwarts?"

"I haven't heard the whole story of Sirius Black," Hattie said.

Neville quickly explained Sirius' case, including his betrayal of the Potters. Neville wasn't being inconsiderate or thoughtless, he knew exactly what he was saying. He cared about Hattie and Petunia, and he didn't want them left out of the loop. For once, Neville had information and he certainly wasn't going to keep it to himself.

Aunt Petunia's lips thinned in anger. Hattie herself felt the rage throbbing though her body. "He won't touch you," Hattie hissed. "You'll be safe at Hogwarts, I'll make sure of it."

"Hattie, your Professors will make sure of it," Aunt Petunia corrected. She didn't want to flat-out tell Hattie not to protect Neville, but she certainly felt like her niece's safety should come first.

Of course, Hattie had absolutely no intention of putting herself first.

"How did Azkaban go?" Neville asked, trying to change the topic.

"Oh good," Hattie said, distantly. "It was super creepy though. I can see why your mum didn't want you to go."

"I don't see why we had to go in the first place," Aunt Petunia said. "I swear that man only forced us to go so we'd feel sorry for dear Gilderoy. The man looked like he had fallen to pieces, nothing like the pictures of him on the back of his book."

"I would have tried to protect him anyway," Hattie added. "I didn't need to see Lockhart like that to tell the truth."

"I'm not letting you go back there," Aunt Petunia said to Hattie. "I don't care if they've discovered Gilderoy can walk on water. He can walk on water over here away from that hell."

Hattie and Neville flinched. Aunt Petunia glanced at a clock on the wall and excused herself. She still had to work in the evening, and she left with her tea cup untouched. Hattie felt sorry for Aunt Petunia. She looked more tired lately, and she wouldn't let Hattie help her buy a new car.

"Are you worried Neville?" Hattie asked, drinking her Aunt's tea.

Neville tensed. "No," he said. "Well, maybe a bit. Yes."

"I am serious when I said I won't let anything happen to you. He'll have to go through me – and Ron and Hermione too, I'm sure. Sirius Black has already taken too many people I care about, I won't let him take you too," Hattie reasoned in a matter-of-fact tone.

"What did Ron and Hermione have to say about the Quirrell sighting?" Neville asked, changing the topic.

"I'm not sure either of them completely understood the letter," Hattie admitted.

"Maybe you just didn't understand their replies," Neville said.

Hattie sighed out of frustration. "They should just be here! I don't get all this code speak."

Hattie got the letters for Neville to look over, but he wasn't entirely sure what they meant either. Hermione said something about casting lumos at night and Ron complained about Percy's socks. "This is useless," Hattie said, adding, "and pointless."

"But we know Voldemort wasn't on the back of his head for sure, right?" Neville asked.

"Right," Hattie agreed. "I just don't understand why he'd hit us with his car. I guess he could be trying to kill me to annoy Voldemort."

"Or he could be trying to make it so you can't testify at Lockhart's trial," Neville said. "Maybe they actually think Lockhart's a threat."

"Or maybe they're just mad he killed one of their own," Hattie said.

"Either way it looks like we both have to be careful," Neville said. "It looks like we're going to be inside and bored this summer."

"I'm already inside and bored," Hattie sighed.


	3. Lockhart's Big Mistake

Disclaimer: I acknowledge that I do not own any of the Harry Potter characters or universe. No offense is meant by the situations portrayed in this or any other fanworks.  
A/N: Just as a note, on my LJ (my homepage) I updated a new HP Note about Lockhart and his relationship with the Basilisk. For those of you who are interested. There's a new art piece as well.  
Also, just as a reminder, the poll's still up. I'm kind of surprised about who is winning. I'm probably going to leave it up for the entire book, and eventually start one about who you don't want Hattie to end up with.

Chapter Three: Lockhart's Big Mistake

Of course, Ron and Hermione weren't back in time for the trial. Hattie kept receiving letters about Fred cleaning out his ears and using Accio to find the remote control. She was getting tired of code-speak. She was also pretty tired of gardening, but she wouldn't tell Neville.

Neville had turned Aunt Petunia's balcony into a rainforest. He placed turf onto the base of the balcony, vines growing up the fence, and flowers hanging down from the ceiling (that is, the balcony of the floor above them). There were a few big flowers growing in the grassy floor, and small thorns on the vines. "So no one can climb up them, you see?" Neville beamed.

Hattie said all they needed was a jaguar and they'd set. Rubeus spent most of his free time sitting on the balcony, but Hedwig still felt more comfortable in Hattie's room.

Aunt Petunia set a few lawn chairs and a table out on the grassy balcony. Neville came over often to tend the garden, and he charmed a few roses to grow up through the center of the table.

So, to say the least, Hattie found it incredibly boring. She couldn't comprehend Ron and Hermione's letters, and she hadn't heard from Ginny since she sent her a thank you letter. So she spent her days stretched out on the couch and watched TV upside-down. She heard Dudley would be visiting, but not until after the trial.

Aunt Petunia kept going shopping for cars and coming back empty-handed and extremely tired. Hattie kept asking to go, but Aunt Petunia wouldn't let her go. Hattie thought this was stupid because Aunt Petunia didn't even know that Quirrell was probably after her. Neville had every reason to be inside, but she certainly could go out wandering the streets.

Relief came when a tawny frogmouth owl landed onto their balcony. Neville was at home babysitting his horrid sister, and Hattie watched TV while Aunt Petunia cross-stitched. Rubeus hooted up a storm at the invasion.

"That is the saddest looking bird I've ever seen," Aunt Petunia said as Hattie opened the door to take the package out of the owl's talons.

"I agree," Hattie replied, "maybe he's not happy about carrying this heavy thing."

The owl cooed and then flew off. Rubeus puffed up, but stopped howling. "What is it?" Aunt Petunia asked.

Hattie opened the packaged. "It's Lockhart's manuscript," she said.

"Why do you call him Lockhart and not Gilderoy?" Aunt Petunia asked.

Hattie shrugged. "He was my professor." There was a post-it note on the first page. "He says he wants me to review it and then write the forward before he sends it off to the publisher."

"Well, now you can stop complaining about being bored and read his book," Aunt Petunia said.

Hattie groaned.

"Give him a chance," Aunt Petunia said. "The man saved your life."

"All right, fine."

Hattie stormed off to her bedroom to read the manuscript. She hated to admit it, but she found herself absorbed in it. The writing itself was simple and rather funny. The deeper she got into the book, the more she realized how honest it was. She hadn't read his other books, but in this one Lockhart didn't present himself as God's gift to Wizarding. He acknowledged his stupidity and ignorance, usually in a funny self-deprecating manner.

Before she finished, she wrote a letter to Hermione.

"Dear Hermione,

I'm reading the manuscript of Lockhart's new book. I'm surprised because it's actually quite brilliant. Please strangle me with a turban for thinking that.

Best,  
Hattie"

Hedwig flew off to deliver the letter and Hattie finished reading the manuscript. She began taking notes as to what she'd like to write in the forward. Aunt Petunia knocked on Hattie's door as she stepped in.

"What did you want for dinner?"

"You've gotta read this," Hattie said, waving the manuscript at her. "It's actually good."

They had pizza. Chicken, spinach, and red peppers.

While eating, Hattie began working on her forward as Aunt Petunia read Lockhart's manuscript.

Hattie finished her forward the same day as Lockhart's trial. She thought she'd give it to him there. Aunt Petunia dressed Hattie in her best clothes, brushed her hair, and tied it tightly back into a bun. So tight that Hattie thought her brain was going to pop out of her head.

They took the Knight Bus to the Ministry and managed to find their way to the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. Ardin Beard grabbed Hattie by the arm. Hattie handed the manuscript to Aunt Petunia. Hattie had to sit with the other witnesses, the other witnesses being Professor Snape. Hattie gave Aunt Petunia a thumbs up, but Aunt Petunia pursed her lips and sat near the back.

She never would have admitted it to anyone, but she was pretty excited. She got to sit in her own area. People were going to listen to her when she spoke. Everyone would value her opinion because she was Hattie Potter: The Girl Who Lived. For once her celebrity would actually help.

"Hi Professor Snape," Hattie whispered cheerfully.

"And what are we so pleased about today, Miss. Potter?" he asked, dryly.

Hattie shrugged. "It's the summer, sir."

Snape said nothing. He simply stared forward.

"Has your summer been well, Professor Snape?" she asked. "Enjoying time off from annoying students, I suppose."

"It's hot and humid and I'm sitting in Wizengamot," he said. "Some of us aren't as easily amused by the trial of someone's life."

That shut Hattie up. She folded her arms against her chest and leaned back in her chair. Hattie even gave him the opportunity to banter with her, but he obviously just wanted her to stop talking. She couldn't see why, she was a very good conversationalist. She swung her legs restlessly, waiting for the trial to begin.

She turned around to look at the people behind her. For a minute she expected to see Quirrell, but she only recognized a few faces. Aunt Petunia. Frank Longbottom. Lucius Malfoy. Professor McGonagall. Wait, what was Lucius Malfoy doing there?

As the fifty members filed into the room, Gilderoy Lockhart was escorted in by a thick-looking man. Hattie liked the plum-coloured robes the Wizengamot wore, and she decided it was a reason to be in the Wizengamot when she got older. She also liked the silver "W" sewn into the robes, but she instantly thought it stood for "Weasley" which didn't make sense. She almost chuckled at her own stupidity.

She noticed Professor Dumbledore file out with the rest, and when she caught his eye, he gave her a friendly wink.

She looked back at Snape who looked very serious. Was he worried about Lockhart, or was he just really, really bored?

Hattie noticed Lockhart's chair had chains on it, probably to bind the person in. She supposed Lockhart simply looked too pathetic to chain up. He was thinner. His hair was greyer. And his eyes stared distantly towards a wall. Lockhart was worse than when she saw him at Azkaban.

A witch stepped up to act as Prosecutor, but Hattie did not know her. She read introductory statements that Hattie didn't care to listen to.

Ardin Beard went on and on with an introduction explaining what a credit to the Wizarding world that Lockhart was. A few members cleared their throats, trying to get Beard to get to the point. Hattie worried for a moment. If Lockhart's celebrity wasn't going to save him, would hers? Maybe. She did save the Wizarding World from Voldemort, and then he saved her.

Beard called Snape to testify first. Hattie knew this would happen. He wanted to save Hattie for last. Beard asked Snape a series of questions. The whole purpose of Snape's testimony was to show that Hattie hadn't provoked the attack. She wasn't in the dungeons to specifically seek out trouble. But Snape said she was there to talk about her potions assignment. He noted that she hadn't been doing very well.

Hattie fumed. To say that in front of her Aunt! The jerk.

There were a few questions by the Wizengamot. Hattie noticed Snape wouldn't look at Dumbledore. He stayed stiff and kept his answers short. It was clear that Snape had no desire to be at the trial, but it was hard to tell if it was because he didn't agree with it or if he thought he had better things to do.

Then there was the question, "Don't you think Mr. Lockhart could have used another spell to subdue the student?"

"I believe so," Snape said, "but I don't think Professor Lockhart expected a student to use that much force on him. It likely caught him off guard and he responded with the force that was used on him."

"That's right," Lockhart said, piping up. "My mind went blank. What spell do you use against a student? I just responded with the first spell that I heard. A reflex, if you will."

Another wizard: "Do you commonly use unforgivable curses as reflexes?"

Lockhart replied, "No, but I commonly use the same spell."

"Why is that?" the witch controlling the ceremony asked.

Snape looked uncomfortable, standing as if he were the focus, although he clearly wasn't. Lockhart explained, staring at his hands as if they were a new addition, "Spells don't come to me too quickly. So often I just use whatever's used against me."

There were a few murmurs at this. Clearly a few of them had read Lockhart's books, and he didn't spend time rambling about not remembering a spell.

Hattie was called to next. She was supposed to stand. She looked at Lockhart. Lockhart didn't seem to be looking at anything at all, but he was smiling. Hattie suspected that in his own brain he was riding an elephant, an elephant with a red star on its side.

Beard asked the questions she knew he was going to ask. She responded clearly and kept her voice steady, like how Aunt Petunia made her practice. Hattie really didn't want to sound nervous, and she could feel her stomach bubbling as all of the eyes were on hers. She tried speaking directly to Dumbledore, but for some reason that made her more nervous.

She got a few questions from Wizengamot. Lockhart's role with the Basilisk. Did she feel safe with him? And so on.

Then this stout woman with a large mouth and gaping eyes spoke. "Was Mr. Lockhart a good teacher?" she asked.

She reminded Hattie of a toad. The woman clearly knew what kind of question she was asking. Lockhart was a lousy teacher, and the prim, smug smile on her face showed that she knew.

Hattie responded, "He was not the best teacher. He left the students to relive his own personal experiences to learn what to do in a situation with Dark Magic."

But the woman continued, "Did he ask questions about himself?"

Hattie nodded, "It was common for Professor Lockhart to ask irrelevant questions about himself, but I don't see-"

"Would you say you learned a lot from Mr. Lockhart?" the woman asked.

Hattie was furious. She hated being interrupted, especially when she was trying to make a point. "I learned that I could trust him with my life," Hattie spat. "And I learned that more than once."

The woman struggled to keep her composure, but opened her mouth to ask another question. The woman, however, was interrupted by one of her peers: Professor Albus Dumbledore. "How would you compare Professor Lockhart's teaching methods to your other Professors?"

Hattie tried not to smile. "Every teacher has their own distinct method. Professor Lockhart's method was simply one I hadn't come across before. I certainly prefer personal experience accounts so that I have a story to help remember the method. And while one could consider Professor Lockhart's teaching methods unorthodox, other Professors seem to rely more heavily on discipline as their preferred method."

Dumbledore raised a hand to his mouth, nodding, covering his smile. Hattie thought for sure Snape's eyes were burrowing into the back of her head. There were various whispers, but Hattie noticed the frog-woman's eyes locked onto hers. Hattie stayed firm, but tried not to look at her like the way Snape probably looked at Hattie now.

No one asked Hattie if she thought her life was worth more than Vincent Crabbe's, but she half-expected this woman to. But before anyone could ask more questions, the witch asked, "Those in favour of clearing the accused of all charges?"

Hattie tried to quickly count the hands. Dumbledore's hand was up, but there couldn't have been half. There was barely a quarter.

The witch continued, "And those in favour of conviction?"

Hattie couldn't believe the sea of hands. Apparently Unforgivable Curses really are Unforgivable. Hattie stood up to shout out "No!" but someone strong caught her arm. It was Snape. He pulled her roughly back down into her seat.

And then there was a loud bang. And smoke. "Don't be an idiot," he hissed while Hattie tried to figure out what was happening. "You can't afford to make enemies with these people."

As the smoke cleared, Hattie found the source of the smoke to be from Lockhart's chair. There was a small fire there as if Lockhart had spontaneously combusted. He couldn't have disapparated because there were charms in place. How else could he have escaped? Or did he actually kill himself in that chair? It certainly was a small flame, not something that could consume an entire body to smoke and ash.

People around them were shouting and rushing around. They were trying to find Lockhart.

Snape continued, "You already got under Umbridge's skin and-"

"Who's Umbridge?" Hattie asked.

"Were you not listening?" Snape asked. "They introduced every person who spoke."

Hattie shrugged. "Which one was it? The one that looked like a toad?"

"Yes," Snape said. "I'm flattered that it's not just my class that you don't listen to. Honestly I don't know how you manage to pass your classes."

"I charm my way through," Hattie said, looking through crowd. "People like me. And I did save them all."

Snape couldn't tell if she was joking or not. Hattie wasn't sure either. "I don't see my Aunt," she said. "Should we go?"

Why were they just sitting there together anyway? "I suppose," Snape said. "I shall escort you out of the Ministry, and then you are on your own."

"Thanks," Hattie said. "This place is a bloody maze. I don't know how my Aunt will find her way out. Do you think I should find her first?"

"I am not helping you find your Aunt," Snape said. "I am not mall security."

"Well she's with Mr. Longbottom. I suppose she'll be all right," she said.

Unless Mr. Longbottom was busy looking for Lockhart. But Hattie didn't want to think about that. She didn't really want to be left in this mess without Snape. He put his hand on her back to move her forward. And she moved forward.

No one seemed to notice or care that they were leaving. Was that strange? Any spectators either crammed to watch them search or walked out of the room now that the excitement was over.

"I don't really think you depend on discipline as a teaching method, sir," Hattie said to Snape.

"You cannot believe how relieved I am to hear that." Sarcasm, of course.

"I think you're more of a trial and error teacher, with more emphasis on the error part. But it's easy to remember things you screw up, it's just hard to remember how to fix them."

"As much as I appreciate your feedback Miss. Potter, I would prefer that you spoke less and concentrated more on walking quickly," Snape replied.

Hattie stopped talking and focussed on walking forward. Snape kept taping Hattie on the back or shoulder to keep her moving in the right direction. When she stepped outside, the fresh air washed over her. She turned around to thank Snape, but he was gone. Aunt Petunia shouted her name. "Hattie!" she said, waving.

"I'm glad you go out," Hattie said.

"Yes, Frank showed me the way," she said.

"Where is he?" Hattie asked.

"He went back inside," her Aunt replied quickly. "Let's head home."

"All right," Hattie said, walking beside her Aunt. "I can't believe they found Lockhart guilty."

"You tried your best," Aunt Petunia replied, distantly. "And he did do something quite terrible. You shouldn't undermine the severity of the situation because you like the man."

"I don't like him," Hattie said. "He's pompous and frilly and annoying and stupid, but I don't think he deserves to be in there. A psychiatric ward, maybe, but not prison."

"You know what they say about what you do if you don't have something nice to say about someone," Aunt Petunia said.

"Say it often?" Hattie replied. "Where are we going, anyway? If we want to take the Knight bus we should-"

"We're not taking the Knight Bus," Aunt Petunia replied. "We're taking my new car."

"When did you get a car?" Hattie asked. "And what's it doing here?"

"Oh my goodness, Hattie Potter. Please be quiet so I can think," Aunt Petunia replied.

Hattie walked beside her Aunt wondering what Hattie had done. Did her testimony upset her Aunt? Or maybe it was Snape saying she was lousy at potions, which she was. Hattie wanted to ask, but her Aunt looked too worried. And she had already been told off for talking too much. Maybe it really upset her Aunt that Lockhart was charged. She definitely liked Lockhart. And she watched him deteriorate too.

They got to the car. It was a steel blue something-er-other. She supposed her Aunt thought the car matched her eyes. Her Aunt opened the back door to the car. "I thought you didn't want to chauffer me around," Hattie said, a little hurt.

"Oh," Aunt Petunia said. "Of course."

She hesitated before closing the door. Hattie went into the passenger side as Aunt Petunia went into the driver's side. When her Aunt started driving, Hattie asked, "Is everything okay, Auntie?"

"Everything's fine."

"Are you sure?" Hattie asked. "You don't seem yourself."

"Well, it's not every day you watch a lovely man get sent to a prison that's design to suck the life out of its prisoners," Aunt Petunia explained.

Hattie said, "Right, of course."

"And you didn't tell me about your Potions Professor," she replied sharply. "I hear about everyone else but not him."

Hattie shrugged. "There wasn't anything to tell."

"I don't like him," Aunt Petunia said. "Not at all."

"I was doing rubbish in potions," Hattie admitted. "He let me and Neville do extra assignments to make up for it."

She wasn't sure why she was standing up for Snape. He was a jerk, but he did help her out of the building. "Well I didn't like him," she repeated. "You were probably doing rubbish in potions because he was a rubbish teacher."

"Not going to argue with you there," Hattie said.

The ride home was fairly quiet. Hattie busied herself by opening and closing the glove box and various other parts of the car that opened on the dashboard. Aunt Petunia tsked, but she wouldn't speak to scold her. So Hattie continued, just to keep busy and to be a pain.

Hattie suddenly shut the glove box, saying, "We didn't get a chance to give Lockhart his manuscript with my forward. Did you?"

"We can owl it to his agent," Aunt Petunia said.

"Do you suppose they'll catch him?" Hattie asked.

"Where's he going to hide in a government building?" Aunt Petunia asked.

"He must have escaped," Hattie said. "I hope he went far away so that he won't have to worry about anything."

"I thought you didn't like him," Aunt Petunia said.

"He saved my life," Hattie said. "Twice, probably. I don't want him rotting in a prison."

"Well that's nice of you," Aunt Petunia replied.

"I'm a pretty nice person," Hattie said.

They stepped back into their apartment and Hattie flopped on her bed, writing a letter to Hermione about the events of the day. She found herself writing more letters to Hermione. Hermione wrote better replies and her letters made sense. Ron's were always written in a rush, in printing that Hattie couldn't decipher, and usually contained mysterious food stains. Sometimes it'd have comments from the rest of the Weasley's, which Hattie liked, but they still were nothing compared to Hermione's letters.

When she read Hermione's letters she felt like she was right beside her, talking to her. (Unless they were writing in code, then Hattie had no clue what was going on). So Hattie wrote letters to Hermione and left Ron in the dark. She'd tell him when he got back anyway. Probably.


	4. The Squeaky Reel

Disclaimer: I acknowledge that I do not own any of the Harry Potter characters or universe. No offense is meant by the situations portrayed in this or any other fanworks.  
A/N: Some deadlines are popping up at work, so I might miss next week's update. Hopefully not.  
And I'll probably keep reminding everyone about the poll for every update!

Chapter Four: The Squeaky Reel

Hermione and the Weasleys arrived home just about the time that Dudley came to stay with Aunt Petunia and Hattie. But there was one problem. Aunt Petunia started renovating Dudley's room, and Hattie had to share with him.

They hadn't spoken since last summer, but they acted as if they hadn't stopped talking. Sometimes there was a tension between them, but they ignored it. Pretending that nothing was wrong was easier than confronting the problem.

A cot was put up in Hattie's room, but Hattie was stuck on it. She lost an arm-wrestling contest, and she realized afterwards that perhaps arm-wrestling wasn't exactly the choice to her advantage. Dudley's fat, or baby fat as Aunt Petunia put it, was turning into thick muscle. Terrifying muscles, in fact. If he were one of Draco's thugs, Hattie would probably thick twice before attacking him. Probably. Okay, probably not.

Dudley got into the habit of snooping through Hattie's belongings when he was bored. He was bored a lot. "What's this?" he asked, holding up the invisibility cloak.

"Oh it's- wait where did you find that?" Hattie asked.

"Under the bed," Dudley replied. "Do wizards wear it on their heads like turbans?"

"No," Hattie said, snatching it from him. She paused for a moment, to wonder what an invisibility cloak would look like that only covered half her head. Would you be able to see inside her head? She continued, "We stick to the pointy hats. You should have seen the hats the Slytherins were wearing last year."

She kept that cloak in her suitcase. She always kept it in her suitcase. What was it doing on the floor? Dudley continued rummaging under her bed. She wondered when the Weasley's would finally get here to keep Dudley entertained. "What's this?" he asked, holding up the Monster Book of Monsters.

"Are you going to do this with everything you find?" Hattie asked.

"Yes," Dudley said. "I'm interested. Mum says I don't seem interested enough in what you do and I say you aren't interested enough in what I do, but now I am acting interested just in case you didn't think I wasn't interested. And seriously why is this book moving in my hand?"

"It's the Monster Book of Monsters," Hattie said. "It's literally a Monster Book. I think it has monsters inside, but I couldn't get it open. Hagrid sent it to me."

"Why is it wearing Mum's favourite belt?"

"How do you know that's Mum's favourite belt?" Hattie asked.

Dudley scoffed. "I live here more than you do," he said. "I have to listen to her prattle on every day. You only have to read letters. Why's it got the belt?"

"Because it's a Monster Book," Hattie said. "It'd bite me."

Dudley investigated the book while it was bound. He ran a hand along the spine and the book suddenly fell limp. "If you do that, I'm not helping you tie it back up," Hattie said as Dudley unbuckled the book.

Dudley scoffed in reply and continued. The book fell open in Dudley's lap, and Hattie could have sworn it purred. Dudley flipped through the pages, looking very pleased with himself. He didn't say anything, and Hattie didn't want to give him the satisfaction of a reply.

So Hattie left.

"Aunt Tuney," Hattie said, leaning against the doorframe to kitchen. "Do you think we can catch a movie at The Squeaky Reel?"

"I don't know, Hattie," Aunt Petunia replied, closing the fridge door. "Neville's parents might not want him wandering the streets."

"But they're having a George A. Romero marathon," Hattie whined. "They're playing all of the 'Dead' series. That's six hours of zombie flicks. And Ron can't even comprehend what a movie is. It's going to be great."

"Well, you can't de-invite Neville, Hattie," Aunt Petunia said.

That's when a noise came from the fireplace. Dudley came running out of their bedroom while Hattie and Aunt Petunia turned to face the fireplace. Ron came through first, gracefully pulling up his jeans. As the rest of the Weasleys filed in, Hermione came to the door. Hermione stepped into their flat, straightening her sweater vest. Neville came through last.

The first few minutes were chaos. Everyone chatted excitedly, Neville pulling Hermione and Percy onto the balcony to show them his gardening. Ginny and Dudley spoke quickly and excitedly. Ron and Hattie spoke in the same manner. Fred and George began exploring the apartment, opening the door to Dudley's room.

"All right, hold it right there!" Aunt Petunia shouted. Everyone froze, even the three on the balcony. "Hattie planned that everyone would go see a movie - some zombie thing that her and Dudley love."

Stepping back inside, Neville said, "I'm not allowed to go out."

"The theatre's just down the block, Neville," Aunt Petunia said. "You can tell your parents that I let you. And you're with Percy, he's the good one."

"I'm not sure," Neville said. "I mean, you guys can go, but maybe I should just go home."

"No way," Hattie said. "Come on, it'll be fine. Percy's here and we'll all keep an eye on you."

Neville hesitated. "What's the movie about?"

"It's a marathon!" Dudley said, excitedly. "It's about zombies."

"Muggle representation of zombies," Hermione added.

"Is it going to be scary?" Neville asked.

"Not really," Hattie said. "They're old so the special effects are kind of iffy, but they're a lot of fun to watch."

Neville looked at them. "I'm sitting between Hattie and Hermione," he said. "And I want Percy somewhere nearby."

Hattie was hoping to sit next to Ron, so she hoped that would still pan out for her. Ginny would probably sit with Dudley, but would she want to sit with Hattie on the other side? So they headed outside. Neville trying to center himself among his friends.

The walk was quick, like Aunt Petunia promised. Hattie bought the tickets and they loaded up on popcorn, sweets, and drinks. Luckily, Hattie converted some of her wizarding currency to muggle money, and she paid no problem.

They took their seats, Hattie snagging the seat behind Ron. The quartet sat in the third row from the front. The twins and Percy sat in the row behind them, with Percy directly behind of Neville. Ginny and Dudley sat in the row in front, with Ginny being directly in front of Hattie. The theatre was pretty much empty, possibly because no one wanted to watch a zombie movie marathon in the middle of the afternoon. One couple sat in the back corner of the theatre, clearly snogging (though Ron commented they probably couldn't keep it up for six hours, and Hattie bet against him), and there were a few other pairs and trios scattered throughout the theatre being less intimate.

After 30 minutes of chatter amongst themselves and 20 minutes of previews, the marathon finally started. Hattie whispered to Ron throughout most of the opening, explaining actors and credits. Neville kept leaning over to overhear. Hattie had to explain several times that movies were works of fiction.

Neville felt tense throughout the first movie. Hattie and Dudley laughing and whispering to Ron and Ginny the same jokes they used to tell to each other. Hattie heard Hermione remind Neville a few times again that the movies weren't real.

"That was a brutal ending," Ron said during the intermission.

"Devastating," Fred agreed.

"Brilliant," Hattie and Dudley said in unison.

A quick stop at the loo and they were back in their seats munching in popcorn. A good ten minutes into the second movie. "Bugger," Ron whispered. "I didn't refill my bag. I refilled George's lousy bag and forgot about mine."

"I'll get it," Hattie said, "I've seen this one countless times."

"You'll miss pointing out Romero to him though," Dudley said, leaning back in his seat.

"But I'll be back for Savini," Hattie said, grabbing Ron's bag. "I'll be quick."

Hattie found herself squinting to see the aisles. She saw the trio laughing and whispering like Hattie and her group were. The couple snogging. The single man watching it alone in the back of the theatre, next the exit. She found her eyes hesitating on the man. Short peach fuzz brown hair. Non-descript face. Almost no chin.

He waved Hattie over.

Quirrell.

She looked to make sure her friends couldn't see her. Then she walked over and sat down beside him. "This one is my favourite," she whispered.

"I remember," Quirrell responded in a low voice.

"Have you been here this whole time?" she asked.

"Yes," Quirrell replied. "You wouldn't believe what I paid to make them have a marathon. It was the only way I thought I could contact you."

"Yes, because hitting us with a car didn't work," Hattie noted.

Quirrell cleared his throat uncomfortably. "I never thought I would have found you. After your Aunt's divorce, she was hard to pin down. Then I saw you two, and the Longbottom child, driving down the street. I didn't know how else to stop you. So I drove into you."

"Right," Hattie said. "You didn't think of maybe following us?"

Quirrell rubbed his chin. "I'd been searching for six months. I wasn't thinking clearly."

"You were laughing hysterically."

"I just couldn't believe it," Quirrell repeated. "I'm not the best driver, I didn't think I'd be able to follow you. So I pinned you down, disapparated into an alleyway, and then watched the chaos from the crowd. I headed to St. Mungos, waited for you there, and then I followed you home. I then bribed The Squeaky Reel to have a Romero zombie marathon. I thought about picking 'The Crazies' too, but I didn't know how you felt about that one."

"I haven't seen it," Hattie said. "So why are you trying to find me?"

"Voldemort has set me loose," Quirrell said. "He doesn't think I'll be a loyal follower, but he knows I won't do any damage to him and his Death Eaters because who would believe I was a good guy?"

"Dumbledore," Hattie replied.

"Probably not after I betrayed his trust," Quirrell said. "And how would I even get close to perhaps the most powerful wizard in the world?"

"Buy a candy factory," Hattie suggested.

"I thought perhaps you would trust me, Hattie," Quirrell said, "because we have similar taste in movies. And Merlin knows what I would be if I hadn't spoken to you."

"What do you need?" Hattie asked. "And are you going to hit me with another car if I say no?"

Clearing his throat uncomfortably again, Quirrell handed Hattie a small package. "You won't say no. This is the Philosopher's Stone. Voldemort plans to have a body by the end of this year, but he's saved enough elixir to the end of next year. He gave it to me so that I can live out the rest of my life wealthy and, well, alive. If it's in my hands, he knows where it is."

Hattie's hands gripped the package. She wished she had pocketed the Pocket Sneakoscope instead of leaving it on her desk. "What happens when he finds out it's gone?"

Quirrell shrugged. "Torture, death, blown to bits," he said. "Something that would inspire Tom Savini, I'm sure."

"You're hoping if I give this to Dumbledore, he'll protect you," Hattie said, suspiciously.

"I'm hoping you take enough money to fund the biggest fortress you can use to defend yourself against Voldemort and then destroy the stone," Quirrell replied. "When… If Voldemort gets a new body, he won't need the stone. Chances are I'll never hear from him again. The other thing in the package is a mirror."

"Not like-"

"No, not the mirror of Erised," Quirrell said. "It's a mirror so that we can communicate with each other. If I catch wind of Voldemort's plans, I thought I would let you know. And if there's any reason you need to contact me, any reason at all, you can."

"Why should I trust you?" Hattie asked.

Quirrell smiled at raised his hand to show the theatre. "This is why. If Voldemort wins, all of this would be destroyed," he said. "Why would I destroy my first love?"

"Muggles," Hattie said.

"Muggle arts," Quirrell replied. "Muggle science. Their inventiveness. Their ability to adapt without magical support. All of that would be gone, and what would we have left?"

"Magic," Hattie said.

"Yes," Quirrell replied, sighing. "Only magic."

"I'll take this," Hattie said. "And I'll be in touch."

"If you never need a place to hide, I'll be the last place he looks."

"I'll remember that," Hattie said.

She walked out of the theatre, clutching Ron's popcorn bag in one hand and the package with the stone in the other. The stone that she failed to get first year. She was shaking. She could feel the bile rising in her throat. She got a refill of popcorn, sweat dripping down her back.

"You all right?" the attendant asked.

"Yeah, just the gore," Hattie lied. "It gets to me."

Hattie walked back into the theatre to sit beside Ron. She handed him the popcorn bag. "You were gone for ages," Ron whispered. "Did you remember the butter?"

"I don't know," Hattie whispered back.

"Doesn't taste like there's butter on this," Ron said.

"I don't know how you can eat during this," Neville said, leaning over Hattie.

Hermione shushed them. "I'm trying to understand the social commentary."

"It's zombies, there's no social commentary," Ron scoffed.

"It's about consumerism," Hattie said, smiling. She leaned over Neville, "Hermione, did you bring a purse?"

"No," Hermione said, almost disgusted. "Ginny had a bag."

Hattie leaned over to the seat between Ginny and Dudley. "Did you bring a bag, Ginny?"

Ginny raised her bag, open, watching the screen intently. It was a patchwork bag, and Hattie squinted through the darkness to see if Ginny made it herself. Hattie tossed Quirrell's package inside, hoping it would be fine. She knew Hermione would be able to defend it, but Ginny? Ginny was younger. Ginny hadn't been through the same things.

Hattie watched the rest of the marathon with an uneasy stomach, and not because of Savini's cow intestines. Dudley had to turn around to remind her of some of her normal commentary.

Hattie was a step behind the rest as they left the theatre. She watched them all chat excitedly to one another. She would have been glad that they enjoyed the films, if she hadn't been worried about so much else. Should she not tell the others and simply keep the stone? It would be good to have the extra finance. Maybe there would be a war, and maybe the money would help keep her friends safe. Protection definitely wasn't cheap.

When Hattie raised her head, she almost stopped walking. In between her and her friends was an enormous black dog. Its eyes locked onto her as if it was a dog on a mission. She stopped walking. Her friends hadn't noticed her lingering. Hattie relaxed. Big dogs she could handle. After wrestling with Dudley, she was certain she could take down a lion. "Hey puppy," she said, keeping her tone friendly. "Are you lost?"

The dog lowered its head, as if it was bowing to her, and then darted off into an alleyway. Hattie turned to follow it, but felt a hand on her shoulder. "Come on," Percy said. "We can't have you wandering off. Keep up."

"Did you see that dog?" Hattie asked.

Percy shrugged. "You can't go following every dog you see," he said.

"It bowed to me," Hattie said.

"Probably had rabies," Percy said.

"Uh, rabies are supposed to make dogs nuts, not polite," Hattie said.

"I'm not having this stupid conversation with you," Percy said.

Hattie smirked, and changed her tone to a teasing one, "Would you rather have a conversation about your girlfriend?"

Percy scoffed. "Go stand with Fred and George. They'll appreciate your moronic conversations."

Hattie joined the Weasley twins, feeling her mood lifting slightly.

They ended up at the Weasley's house for the evening. Molly prepared a large dinner for everyone, and she dragged Aunt Petunia with them, complaining that she's been staying in far too much. Hattie grabbed her package out of Ginny's bag and stuffed it in her own satchel before leaving to the Weasley's.

The evening was spent stuffing their faces with food, practicing Ginny's Defence Against the Dark Arts charms, and running around to kill a sugar high. Like the summer before, Hattie, Ron, Neville, and Hermione found themselves laying on the grass together.

While they talked aimlessly about school, Hattie tried to decide how to bring up Quirrell. She decided that she couldn't – that she shouldn't – keep it to herself. She ended up just blurting it out, "I saw Quirrell at the theatre today."

Hermione and Neville gasped. Ron said, similarly appalled, "Is that why you forgot my butter?"

"Yes Ron," Hattie said, rolling her eyes.

"Did he try to hurt you?" Hermione asked, giving Hattie the once-over.

"No," Hattie said, sitting up and digging through her bag. "He gave me the Philosopher's Stone."

"You're kidding," Neville hissed.

"And he gave me a mirror that I can talk to him through," Hattie said. "I think he's on our side."

"It could be a trap, Hattie," Hermione warned.

"I trust him," Hattie said.

"Big surprise," Ron replied.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Hattie asked, frustrated.

"Well," Ron said, "you always like the people who are the most terrifying and the people who are the nicest, you ignore. Look at Snape and Lockhart."

"But Lockhart's a prat," Hattie said. "And Snape's hiding something."

"You want the attention of whoever pays attention to you the least," Ron said. "My brother, Percy. He's a prat too and you hang off him."

"I don't hang off of Percy," Hattie said.

"Come on," Neville said. "She made friends with me, and I'm more like Lockhart than Snape."

Hattie and Ron looked at each other, suppressing a smile. Of course, neither of them directly befriended Neville. It just sort of happened. If he hadn't wedged himself into their group, he probably wouldn't be in it.

"Regardless," Hermione said, trying to make peace, "you officially have the Philosopher's Stone. What are you going to do with it?"

"Quirrell said I should build a fortress, but it might have been a metaphor or something," Hattie said. "Sometimes I don't understand what he says."

"So he thinks you'll need the financial support," Hermione said. "At least he doesn't think you'll need eternal life."

"Maybe he doesn't think we'll live long enough," Ron replied.

"The question is, do I give it back to Dumbledore?" Hattie asked.

"Why wouldn't you?" Neville asked.

"Well, Quirrell suggested that Voldemort will literally rip him apart if he finds out he doesn't have it," Hattie replied. "He will be a more valuable ally alive than dead."

"Hold on," Hermione said. "You seriously are suggesting holding onto the stone yourself. Do you realize how dangerous that is?"

"Voldemort doesn't know it's missing," Hattie said. "I'll tell Quirrell to tell me if he needs it back. It's not like anyone will know I have it."

"Well, do you realize how selfish it is?" Hermione asked. "Are you seriously going to use it to get extra money?"

Hattie shrugged. "We don't know if we'll need it or not," Hattie said.

"New brooms for Gryffindor team," Ron said. "Purely for morale purposes."

"You better be joking," Hermione said, pointing at Ron while she stood up. She turned to Hattie, adding, "And I can't believe you're thinking about holding onto it."

"What do you think Dumbledore will do with it?" Hattie asked. "He's certainly not going to protect Quirrell."

"He'll destroy it," Neville said.

The three turned to look at Neville. "Why do you say that?" Hermione asked.

Neville shrugged. "That's what I'd do. It's better in no one's hands than my hands. I mean, I think Hattie will do a good job protecting it, but I saw what was protecting it before and I know I couldn't do that."

Hattie's confidence dropped to the pit of her stomach. "But it's different this time," Ron said. "No one's looking for it. Not even Dumbledore. Everyone's looking for Quirrell."

"And what if they find Quirrell without the stone?" Hattie asked. "We have to hold onto it for his sake. For his safety."

"Since when is it our job to protect Quirrell?" Hermione asked. "You remember he tried to kill you two years ago."

"He tried to protect me," Hattie repeated. "You're forgetting that he talked Voldemort out of killing me."

"By telling Voldemort it would be more fun to kill you with his own body," Hermione said.

"Hold on," Ron said, raising his hands. "Maybe we should just hold onto the stone for now to think about things. We're in school for, what, ten months? That's ten months the stone is safe at Hogwarts, and ten months we have the opportunity to give it directly to Dumbledore."

Hattie nodded. "Right."

"I don't understand," Hermione said, folding her arms across her chest. "You asked for our opinions and the only one you listen to is the one that is what you wanted to do in the first place. Are you just looking for us to agree with you?"

"Hermione, you know I just want to keep as many options open as possible," Hattie said. "We don't know what's going to happen this year. We might need the stone for leverage."

"For leverage?" Hermione let out a bark of laughter. "I can't believe you. You talk like you think a war's going to start."

"Quirrell thinks there is," Hattie said. "And if he thinks there is, then that means Voldemort is planning one. And if he's planning one, you know there's going to be one. And who's going to be his main target? Me."

The Quartet was silent for a moment.

Neville smiled, touching Hattie's arm. "Come on, Hattie, You-Know-Who barely has a body," he said. "It's not like he can start a war."

Hattie nodded. "Of course, you're right."

"And we'll all be here to help you," Ron said. "Come on, he'd have to go through Dumbledore himself to get to you."

Hattie repeated her nod, smiling. Hermione replied, "Well maybe you're right. Maybe we should hold onto the stone. But I want to approve everything you buy with it, okay?"

Hattie said, "Of course."

"And the first sign of trouble, you hand it over to Professor Dumbledore," Hermione said.

"Yes," Hattie agreed. "Right."

"And-"

Hermione was cut off by yelling coming from the backdoor of the Weasley's house. The Quartet turned to look at them. Alice Longbottom was screaming at Aunt Petunia.

"I can't believe you let him out of the house!" she yelled. "I have specifically told you now and again that if he's going to be at your place he has to stay inside. Have you let him out before?"

"No," Aunt Petunia said. "Of course not. I just thought-"

"You just thought you could risk his life because your crappy little flat can't hold all of your daughter's friends! I ask you to do one thing, Petunia, just one thing that your little magicless body should be able to do, and you go against that!"

Hattie almost didn't see Frank Longbottom approach. "Come on, Neville," he said, lightly pulling Neville up by his arm. "Let's drag your mum out of her before she ruins the poor woman's self-esteem."

"'Bye guys," Neville said.

Hattie stood up, feeling the anger rise through her, as Alice continued to spew out her anger at Aunt Petunia. "I mean, I could overlook the car accident," Alice said, "someone else hit you then, but I'm beginning to feel that maybe you're just careless! Or reckless!"

This time Hermione touched Hattie's arm. "She was just scared," Hermione said. "Don't get mad at her."

Hattie unclenched her fists, but clenched them again. Aunt Petunia looked absolutely devastated. Hattie could see the tears welling up in her eyes. "I'm not mad," Hattie lied through gritted teeth. "I'll see you guys later. We're going to Diagon Alley together, right?"

"Me for sure," Ron said.

"I'll probably meet up with you guys later," Hermione said. "My parents like to spend the time with me before I go."

"All right, I'll see you then."

By the time Hattie reached her Aunt, the Longbottoms had left. "Are you sure you don't want a cup of tea before you leave?" Molly asked.

Dudley, also sensing the trouble, was right with Hattie and her Aunt. Hattie took her Aunt's hand in hers. "No," Aunt Petunia replied, sighing. "I think it's best we just head home."

With the help of the Weasley's, the three arrived back home. Aunt Petunia sat down on the couch, in a daze. Hattie sat beside her, and Dudley sat in the chair next to them. Hattie tucked her hand back into her Aunt's.

"Neville was fine," Hattie said. "Mrs. Longbottom was just scared."

"But what if he wasn't?" Aunt Petunia asked. "What if I sent all of you kids out to face this Black character? I mean, she was right. This rubbish flat couldn't hold everyone and I just wanted them all out of it."

"Mum it's nothing to worry about," Dudley said. "Hattie's right, Mrs. Longbottom just overreacted because she was worried."

Aunt Petunia lowered her eyes. "I wish you two were right."


	5. The Dementor

Disclaimer: I acknowledge that I do not own any of the Harry Potter characters or universe. No offense is meant by the situations portrayed in this or any other fanworks.  
A/N: Again, I might miss next week's update. Hopefully not. Also, I thought for sure Dennis Creevey was in this book, but apparently not! I had to edit this up quite a bit, ahaha.  
And I'll probably keep reminding everyone about the poll for every update!

Chapter Five: The Dementor

In a blink, Hattie found herself on Platform 9 and 3/4s with her friends. Shopping at Diagon Alley went by far too fast for Hattie. Aunt Petunia rushed Hattie through the process to avoid seeing the Longbottoms. Hattie pretty much only had time to gawk at a Firebolt with Ron, joke about using the stone to buy the Firebolts for the Gryffindor team and Ron, and get scolded by Hermione for even thinking about using the stone frivolously.

Her Aunt seemed slightly depressed since Alice yelled at her, but she tried her best to keep on a happy face. Hattie was originally worried about leaving her Aunt when she was in that mood, but sometimes, at their flat, she'd find her Aunt smiling to herself when she was alone. Hattie knew then that if her Aunt could keep herself cheerful, Aunt Petunia would be fine on her own.

And now she was back on the Platform to Hogwarts. Hattie hugged her Aunt tightly and gave Dudley a friendly wave before hopping the train. "Hattie," Dudley said. "Hattie wave to me from the window."

"There will be no limbs hanging outside of the Hogwarts Express," a silky voice said.

Hattie turned around, startled. "Professor Snape," Hattie said. "What are you doing here?"

Hattie tilted her head in time to see a shadow cross her Aunt's face. Dudley simply looked curious. Snape said, "I volunteered to keep an eye on things. We're taking extra precautions this year because of Sirius Black."

Hattie nodded and Snape moved on. "Do vampires really exist?" Dudley asked.

"I think so," Hattie said.

"He's one of them," Dudley said. "Notice he didn't step into the sunlight?"

"I'll take that into consideration," Hattie said. She lowered her voice to add, "And my limbs will be hanging outside of the Hogwarts Express."

"Excellent," Dudley said.

Her Aunt tsked, but Hattie caught a slight smile. Clearly, her Aunt wasn't completely against Hattie going against Snape. She stepped onto the Hogwarts Express. Neville caught Hattie right away. "Come on, I got us a compartment."

"Is it on the same side as my Aunt and cousin?" Hattie asked. "I told Dudley I'd wave to him."

"Yep," Neville said. "Don't worry."

She followed Neville to the compartment to find Hermione and Ron already sitting, but the two were glaring at each other. "Are we all going to wave at my cousin, or will it be too difficult to smile?" Hattie asked.

"Hermione's got a –"

"I'm not listening until I wave to my cousin," Hattie said. "I don't want to forget."

Hattie leaned out the window to wave at Dudley. She noticed Ginny waving to him from the compartment next to them. Dudley enthusiastically waved back, using both hands. Neville hopped up to wave from the window next to Hattie. The train began crawling forward and the three waved until Dudley and Aunt Petunia disappeared into the smoke. She saw Neville drop back from the window and Hattie shouted to Ginny, "Are you not sitting with us?"

Hattie then got pulled out from the window. Professor Snape frowned, but said nothing. "And what are you two frowning about?" he asked Ron and Hermione.

"Hermione's cat-" Ron started.

"Oh wait," Snape began. Ron and the others hesitated, waiting. "No, this doesn't sound like it falls under my job description."

And he left the compartment.

"That prat," Ron spat.

"Fred'll love hearing about that one," Hattie said. "Did you get a cat, Hermione?"

"I did," Hermione beamed, pulling the massive cat out of its case. "Isn't he gorgeous?"

The cat had to be 28 pounds of pure angry muscle. Hattie didn't know if it was his fur pattern, or if the cat genuinely was an angry cat. It let out a meow that sounded more like a moan.

"…Yes," Hattie said.

"He's half-kneazle. And he's brilliant."

"And he keeps trying to eat Scabbers," Ron said.

"Well, she already said he was smart," Neville joked to Hattie.

Hattie wasn't entirely sure it was funny. "Well, cats do hunt mice, Ron," Hattie said. "We'll just have to keep them apart."

"Tell her that," Ron frowned.

"She can hear me fine," Hattie said.

"Well he can't run around in the Common Room either," Ron said.

"Of course he can," Hermione said. "I didn't buy him to keep him in a box."

"We'll just make sure they're never out together, how about that?" Neville said.

When Hattie noticed that neither of her friends wanted to budge, Hattie changed the topic: "Hey, why isn't Ginny sitting with us?"

Crookshanks nuzzled into Hermione's lap. "Ginny's with her friends," Ron said, glaring at the cat. "You know, the photographer and some other ones."

"Wait, Neville, isn't your sister coming this year?" Hattie asked. "This is terrible news."

"We managed to avoid her this summer," Ron smirked.

"What's the likelihood that we'll avoid her all year?" Hattie asked.

"Not likely," Neville mumbled. "She's sitting with Ginny now because she thinks you're an arrogant prat."

"She should make friends with Malfoy," Hattie said. "Maybe they'd both leave me alone."

"I really don't want to think about my sister hanging around with Malfoy," Neville said.

"She's not your sister," Hattie said. "She was created from the fire and brimstone of hell."

"She was birthed from a volcano," Ron said.

Crookshanks groaned. Hedwig fluttered in her cage, but she didn't seem as concerned about the cat as Scabbers was. Neville scoffed, but he didn't really disagree.

"In a fight, who do you think would win?" Hattie asked. "Hedwig or Crookshanks?"

Crookshanks' amber eyes locked onto Hattie. "Hedwig," Ron said.

"Crookshanks," Neville replied.

"They would never fight," Hermione said.

"What if one of them had Voldemort on the back of their head, so the other had to fight it?" Hattie asked Hermione. "Then they would fight."

Hermione scoffed. "This is a stupid discussion."

"What one would have Voldemort on the back of its head?" Neville asked.

"Crookshanks, obviously," Ron said.

Neville quickly suggested a few games of exploding snap before Hermione and Ron were at each other's throats again. And things did lighten up once the game started. Well, Hermione lightened up. Ron pretty much had a raincloud over his head.

"Before I forget," Hermione said, "Hattie, you must thank your cousin for me. That book would have eaten all my other textbooks if I didn't know how to calm it down."

"I told the witch who was working at Flourish and Blotts," Neville said. "I'm pretty sure your cousin saved everyone this year."

"Uncle Vernon would be most unimpressed," Hattie said, smiling. "You guys all have to sign the letter I write him, okay?"

"Should we use crayons and draw rainbows too?" Ron asked, bitterly.

"Yes," Neville said. "I want to make a big yellow smiley face."

The train suddenly stopped, and everything went dark. Hattie grabbed onto the shoulder next to her to steady herself while she stood up. "Something's touching me!" Ron said.

"That's me," Hattie said. "What's going on?"

"I better ask," Hermione said. "I'll go see the conductor."

They heard their compartment door open, and Ginny's wand illuminated her face. "All right in here? I heard Ron yelling."

"I did not yell," Ron said.

Ginny's wand light emphasized Ron crossing his arms against his chest. Hermione lit her own wand. "Come on, Ginny, let's go to the conductor. We'll leave Hattie to defend the boys."

"I've saved everyone before and I will again," Hattie said, triumphantly.

Ron moved away from her as she tried to pat his shoulder. Then it was dark again. The girls had left. She heard Ron try to clean the window and she felt Neville move beside her. He pulled her arm, trying to get her to sit down. "There's something moving out there," Ron said. "I think people are coming aboard…"

"Light your wand," Neville said to Hattie.

"Maybe it's better if we're in the dark," Hattie said. "We'll be quiet and we'll hear if anyone's coming towards us. I'd rather hear them before they hear us."

Hattie could feel Neville quivering beside her. Despite being startled by Hattie earlier, Ron was much sturdier. She could make out the silhouettes of his eyes scanning the room. Every creak made Hattie tense. Where was Hermione and Ginny?

A cold washed over them. "I can't take it," Neville whispered and lit his wand.

He lit up something Hattie recognized. She could feel the breath swept out of her throat.

It was a dementor, and she didn't have Alice Longbottom to keep it away. Worse, she didn't have her Aunt Petunia's hand to hold.

It creeped closer to her.

It was as if it had clutched her and pulled her downwards. She could feel her eyes rolling into the back of her head. Pressure pressed against her ears and eyes as if she was deep underwater. There was a roaring all around her.

And then, from far away, she heard screams. The faint screams from Azkaban. But they weren't as faint anymore and they were terrified, pleading. She wanted to help them but she couldn't move. It was as if Voldemort bound her again from the back of someone's head. A thick white fog swirled out from her. She could see it leaking from her eyes and from out of her mouth.

And then suddenly –

"Hattie! Hattie! Are you all right?"

A cool, rough hand pressed against her forehead.

"What?"

She was back on the Hogwarts Express. Lights were on. Everyone was around her. Neville. Hermione. Ron. Snape.

Wait, where was Ginny?

"How are you feeling?" Snape asked.

Any adrenaline she had in her body was drained. "Tired. Sweaty." She paused to think about it. "Definitely tired."

The Dementor was gone.

"But you're all right?" Snape asked.

"Define 'all right,'" Hattie said. "What just happened, and who was screaming?"

"No one was screaming," Ron said.

"Well, I was yelling a bit," Neville said.

"That's true," Ron said. "Okay, Neville was whimpering."

"I'd know Neville's scream," Hattie said.

"Please," Snape said. "By all right I mean alive. You don't feel like your soul is leaving you?"

"My soul is fine, right here where it belongs," she said, patting her chest. Her arm felt like it turned into cement. "I think I'm just going to lay here on the floor for a few minutes."

"It looks comfortable," Snape said, standing up.

"Why were there dementors on the train, Professor Snape?" Hermione asked.

Neville lifted Hattie's head to put his bag underneath it. Professor Snape watched with a look of disgust. "They suspect Sirius Black will be at Hogwarts, and we wanted to make sure he wasn't on the train," he replied. "One Professor came in on the train and I volunteered to assist him."

"Who's the other Professor?" Hattie asked.

"The new Defence Against the Dark Arts Professor," Snape replied.

"Professor Lupin," Neville said.

"You wouldn't like him," Professor Snape said, shortly to Hattie. "He's arrogant, has no sense of humour, and he's a bit of a know-it-all, although the latter may not bother you since you are friends with Miss. Granger."

Hermione cleared her throat.

Hattie hesitated. "But am I actually going to learn something?"

"Most likely," Professor Snape replied.

Hattie exhaled. "Well, then he sounds like the best I've had so far," she said.

"Well, I will leave you to your healing," Professor Snape said, sharply, and left.

"Is he supposed to be leaving his students on the floor?" Ron asked.

"I have gossip," Neville announced. "My parents worked with Dumbledore to make sure I'd be safe at school. You know they were worried about me coming, right?"

"Your mum's worried about you going anywhere," Ron muttered.

Neville frowned. So Hermione smiled and said, "Yes, we know."

"Well, I discovered that Professor Remus Lupin was a friend of Hattie's dad," Neville said.

"No way!" Hattie replied. "Really? So not only do we get a competent Professor, he also gets to tell me about my dad!"

Neville nodded, beaming. Ron looked apathetic and Hermione bit her bottom lip. Hattie was not impressed that her friends were not as excited as she was.

She hesitated. "This is great news, right?" she asked. "Why wouldn't it be good news?"

"Well, Snape doesn't like him for one," Hermione said. "You said yourself that you trusted Snape and here he is-"

"Hold on," Hattie said. "When did I say that I trust Snape?"

"I said she liked Snape because he didn't like her," Ron said, examining the dirt under his fingernails. "I don't know if I'd say trust."

"I'm sure you've said that you trusted Snape before," Hermione said, eyebrows furrowed to think. (Neville gave her a shrug.) "Either way," she continued, "You've trusted Snape before and it's panned out before-"

"It didn't pan out last year when Crabbe attacked me right after-"

Hermione cut her off sharply, causing heat to rise in Hattie's cheeks, "Just let me finish, Hattie. Maybe there is a reason we shouldn't trust Lupin. I mean, we've heard about Sirius Black. He was your father's best friend and he wasn't exactly loyal."

Hattie scoffed, and flicked Ron's leg from her position on the floor. Ron looked down at her. "Do you know your dad said to me that I shouldn't go after Sirius Black myself? Does he honestly think I'd approach him myself to avenge my parents or something?" she asked.

"Well, you've done stupid things before," Hermione said, folding her arms across her chest.

"If I caught him," Hattie said, "I'd want him back in Azkaban to rot."

"What if he escaped again?" Neville asked.

Hattie hadn't considered that. "I wonder how he escaped in the first place," Hattie said. "I mean, Lockhart escaped and he's a moron, but he could have had help and he was in the Ministry. They also seemed a little lax, I don't think they expected Lockhart to do anything like that."

"I loved seeing his poster around Diagon Alley," Ron said. "You'd see Sirius Black who looks all grungy and terrifying and screaming, right next to Lockhart who looks like a baby mouse, batting his eyelashes and looking sad at most."

Hattie had helped Hermione steal one of the Lockhart Wanted Posters. She offered Hermione a smile, but Hermione's face stayed very serious. "So you don't trust Lupin," Hattie said, softening. "We haven't even met him."

"I'm just saying maybe we shouldn't welcome him with open arms," Hermione said. "We should be cautious."

"I'm always cautious," Hattie said. "How were you guys with the dementors?"

"I felt pretty lousy," Neville said.

"I felt like I'd never be happy again," Ron said.

"So why am I the only one who can't get off the floor?" Hattie asked. "I'm not that much of a wimp, am I?"

"Maybe it's because you saw them in Azkaban before," Neville said. "It wore you down."

"Let's say it was that," Hattie said.

Ginny opened the door to their compartment. She was wearing her Hogwarts robes. "I just heard we're almost there," Ginny said. "You'd better get in your robes before Percy lectures you."

"Aren't you going to ask why I'm on the floor?" Hattie asked.

"I stopped wondering about the things you do a while ago," Ginny said. "I'll watch Crookshanks while you guys change."

Hattie reached out a hand and, with a roll of his eyes, Ron helped Hattie up. She was partly teasing, but once she was off the floor, she began feeling dizzy and sick. She grabbed onto his shoulder tightly to keep her balance.

"Hattie, are you all right?" Hermione asked. "You just went as white as Nick."

"I just felt dizzy," Hattie said, smiling weakly. "Probably spent too much time on the floor. Come on, let's go."

Hattie switched her grip to Hermione and they quickly went off to change. Ginny didn't spend much time with them when they got back, and once they train arrived, they headed towards the carriages. Hattie saw the blonde head of Draco Malfoy in front of them, but he was in a group of other Slytherins. She noticed Goyle close behind him.

Their heads turned like a flock of geese, and she noticed they confronted her and her group. Blaise Zabini and Pansy Parkinson were the other members in the group, but she noticed Zabini took head instead of Draco. "Potter," he spat. "I heard you fainted at the sight of a Dementor. Did you need someone to hold your hand or was it just another attempt for attention?"

Hattie shrugged. "You should let Malfoy insult me, he's better at it," she replied.

Draco's face tightened. "I don't need you to stand up for me, Potter," he snarled.

"Of course not," Hattie said, sympathetically. "Look at those strong little legs. You should be able to stand up fine on your own, and if you can't, Goyle's there for you."

Her friends would have laughed, except it reminded everyone of Crabbe's death. A haze set over everyone. Did Hattie apologize? Oh, sorry Draco, if it wasn't for me Crabbe could help you stand, too. But he was trying to kill me, remember?

"This isn't worth our time," Blaise said, more to Draco than to Hattie.

He motioned for them to leave, but Draco gave Hattie a hard look before following.

"I wish I could have gotten a quip in," Neville muttered as they loaded onto a carriage. "Did we miss seeing Hagrid?"

"We must have," Hattie said, disappointed.

As they piled into the Sorting Ceremony, Professor McGonagall pulled Hermione aside. The remaining three piled into the Great Hall, with Hattie trying to get a seat near Ginny. She worried Ginny was avoiding her, but she couldn't think of a reason why she would. Hattie also worried about Neville's horrid sister getting into Gryffindor.

Professor McGonagall read, "Natasha Longbottom!"

Natasha stepped up looking cocky and sat on the stool. She looked a little offended that the ratty Sorting Hat was going to be sitting on her head.

The Great Hall was silent as the hat contemplating where to put her.

It was a moment before the Sorting Hat shouted, "RAVENCLAW!"

Hattie exhaled as Natasha walked over to a cheering Ravenclaw table. "Better there than Slytherin," Ron muttered into Hattie's ear, so Neville (who happily clapped) couldn't hear.

"Better there than Gryffindor," Hattie muttered back.

When Professor Dumbledore made his opening speech, Hermione wedged herself in with them. Ginny was a few seats down, but Hattie couldn't mumble to her. "What was that about?" Hattie asked Hermione in a whisper.

Dumbledore discussed the presence of the dementors, but he didn't mention Sirius Black.

"Oh you know," Hermione replied, lowering her voice. "Professor McGonagall things."

"So boring things," Ron said, cutting into their conversation.

"Look at Lupin," Hattie said. "What is he wearing?"

"Potato sack suit," Ron replied.

"Guys he's really nice," Neville said.

"You met him?" Hermione hissed. "This information would have been useful earlier."

"Well, you already made up your mind," Neville said.

Dumbledore introduced Lupin, and he stood up. Hattie squinted to see a few scars on his face, and he looked about as ragged as his attire. His faint grey eyes scanned the students. Hattie offered a smile, but his eyes didn't lock onto hers.

Before Hattie could remark to her friends, Dumbledore announced Hagrid's new position as the Professor of Care of Magical Creatures. Ron scoffed, "If that book is a sign of things to come, we should drag your cousin here."

"So he can get eaten?" Hattie asked, semi-joking.

As they ate, Hattie began feeling stronger. They didn't discuss the events on the train or Lupin because they ended up talking to the peers about their summers. Dean and Seamus were curious about Ron's trip to Egypt, while Lavender and Parvati wanted to hear about Hermione's trip to France. Hattie and Neville were happy to listen to Hermione and Ron's stories again.

No one was eager to ask Hattie about the trial, and no one wanted to hear about Neville's adventures in gardening. Hattie would have felt sorry for him if she hadn't heard him ramble on about it all summer.

They slowly filtered out of the Great Hall. Before she managed to merge with the Gryffindor stream towards the Tower, Professor McGonagall said, "Miss. Potter, please come here!"

Hattie separated from her friends with a wave, and she headed off with Professor McGonagall. She stumbled into her office and found herself in the grip of Madam Pomfrey. Professor McGonagall sounded furious: "I can't believe I had to hear from a student that you were attacked by a dementor. Am I correct that Professor Snape was the one who protected you?"

"Yes," Hattie replied.

"How do you feel?" Madam Pomfrey asked, shining the light from her wand into Hattie's eyes.

"Tired," Hattie replied.

"I can't believe that man didn't tell me," Professor McGonagall said, her arms across her chest. "Did he give you any chocolate?"

"No," Hattie said. "He doesn't seem like a chocolate kind of guy."

Professor McGonagall scoffed. "It helps chase away the sorrow that the dementors cause," she explained. "Did Professor Lupin check on you?"

"No," Hattie said.

"Severus probably said he had it under control," Pomfrey tisked. "Here have some chocolate."

Hattie accepted the chocolate despite having a massive piece of chocolate cake at dinner. (Fred had a piece of a similar size, and they had raced to finish it. Hattie felt a little ill afterwards, but chocolate was hard to turn down, even after being stuffed with it.)

Hattie began chewing on the piece of chocolate while Madam Pomfrey fawned over her and asked her questions while Professor McGonagall complained about Snape. Hattie liked being there. She felt like she was at a spa or something.

"I really liked hearing from your Aunt this summer," Madam Pomfrey said, cheerfully. "She seems to really care about you."

"Perhaps too much," Hattie said, her cheeks burning. She didn't care to discuss her Aunt's slow penetration into her Hogwarts life. "Are we done?"

They eventually let Hattie out to make her way to Gryffindor Tower. Of course, as she neared the portrait, she realized that she didn't know the Gryffindor password. As she neared, she saw a red head waiting for her. She quickened her pace to make out the slight figure of Ginny. She was sitting on the floor, reading.

"Hey," Ginny said, spotting Hattie down the hall. "We realized that you wouldn't be able to get in, so I volunteered to wait for you."

"Well, I'm thrilled," Hattie said.

An awkward silence sat between them. Ginny finally asked, "What did Professor McGonagall want to see you about?"

"She wanted to check up on the whole dementor thing," Hattie said.

Of course, Ginny wasn't there for the dementor thing, but she knew Hattie was in trouble because she was with Hermione, and Hermione was there for the dementor thing. Hattie was more hurt than anything, and she was far too tired to be mad.

"Listen, Hattie," Ginny said, putting her hand on Hattie's arm. "I'm really sorry I wasn't there, but I had to be there for my friends."

The hurt must have shown on Hattie's face anyway. "Oh no, it's fine," Hattie said.

Hattie wished she had the password so she could avoid this whole conversation.

"I know, I'm supposed to be your friend too, and I am, but my friends aren't like you," Ginny said. "I mean, you can take care of yourself Hattie."

"Madam Pomfrey doesn't think so," Hattie said, stubbornly.

"Nonetheless," Ginny said, "my friends need a bit of handholding. They need someone to look out for them, and I'm happy to be that person."

"Are you ending our friendship?" Hattie asked. "Is that what this is? Some sort of bizarre, oral Dear John letter?"

Ginny rolled her eyes. "No, not at all. Never, Hattie, I adore you. I want to be to my friends what you are to me."

"What?" Hattie asked.

"A leader, a mentor, and so on," Ginny said.

"That's not what I am."

"That's what you are," Ginny said. "Ron would follow you off a cliff. Merlin, I think you could even talk Percy off of one if you went first."

"So you want the ability to talk Percy off a cliff?" Hattie asked.

"No," Ginny said. "Is any of this getting through?"

"Just that you don't want to hang out with me," Hattie said.

"That's not it at all. I'm still going to be hanging out with you, but I have to look out for my friends too. You've seen Colin, he's absolutely useless. And you have to meet my Ravenclaw friend. She's a bully magnet," Ginny said.

"Oh I get it. You want to be me and Ron and your friends are Neville and Hermione," Hattie said. "Except they're not as awesome as Neville and Hermione."

"Yes," Ginny said. "Kind of like that."

"So who's your Ron?" Hattie asked. "It can't be Colin, and it certainly can't be Natasha. I heard you were sitting with her, she's horrid."

"I consider Ron with Neville and Hermione," Ginny said.

"No way," Hattie said.

Ginny laughed. "So you understand, right?"

"Yes," Hattie said.

"And you won't be offended if I'm not with you all the time," Ginny said.

"I won't," Hattie said, "but if I go unconscious again, check up on me."

"All right, I will," Ginny said.

"I'm going to hold you to that," Hattie said. "Unless I'm unconscious, then I'll hold you to it when I'm conscious again.

Smirking at Hattie, Ginny said to the portrait, "Fortuna Major."


	6. Taunts and Tea Leaves

Disclaimer: I acknowledge that I do not own any of the Harry Potter characters or universe. No offense is meant by the situations portrayed in this or any other fanworks.  
A/N: There's a new issue of Hattie Potter notes on my LJ (my homepage), and there's also some art, in case you've been missing that.  
I'm afraid I'm still busy, so I might miss next week's update (like I did last week). Sorry! Oh also, the poll's still going!

Chapter Six: Taunts and Tea Leaves

Hattie felt particularly dreary the following morning at breakfast. She fell asleep listening to Lavender Brown and Parvati Patil prattle on about something dreadfully inane, and then she woke up with Crookshank's fat, furry butt in her face. She also woke up with something else she didn't care to discuss.

"I hate that cat," she muttered to Ron as they walked to the Great Hall.

"I wonder how hard it would be to shrink it," Ron mumbled back.

Both of them kept their voices quiet so Hermione couldn't hear.

"I could talk to Fred," Hattie murmured. "I bet he'd know."

"But then he'd take the credit," Ron replied.

"Maybe that's for the best," Hattie said.

As they walked by the Slytherin table, Hattie saw Draco pretend to faint. It was not the day to rub Hattie Potter the wrong way. She grabbed Draco by the front of his robes and pulled him close to her. "Are you trying to cover up the fact that you were wetting your pants when the Dementors came in?" Hattie asked. "Fred told me you ran into their compartment."

"Don't touch me," Draco said in disgust, shoving her off of him. "You think you're so great, you just can't bear to show one little weakness."

"Drop it Hattie," Neville warned. "Professor McGonagall's coming this way."

"Better listen to your boyfriend Potter," Draco spat. "Wouldn't want to lose any house points. There's only so much sucking up Granger can do."

Hattie could feel the anger and frustration crawling inside of her. She clenched a fist.

And Hattie did what she'd never done before.

She turned away. She stood down.

She saw all of her friends faces. Hermione looked proud, Neville looked relieved, and Ron looked like he was suppressing his anger just as much as she was. But he followed. Hattie tried not to think about what Ginny said. About how they'd follow Hattie off a cliff. How many cliffs would they follow her off of?

She heard Draco laughing behind her with the other Slytherins. "Look at that," he said. "She's like Professor McGonagall's little lapdog."

You know the saying, 'That's the last straw?' Well, Hattie only had two straws, and Draco broke them both.

Hattie turned around and grabbed Draco by the front of his robes again, pulling his face inches away from her own. She saw the smug little grin on his face. She saw the hate lingering behind his 'it's-a-boy' blue eyes.

"It's better than being Voldemort's lapdog," she snarled. "If it wasn't for me, he'd have sucked your soul right out of you. Did you notice how no one came to save you?"

"My dad was looking for me." His voice was confident.

"Oh so daddy loves you, but where was he?" Hattie asked. "You know, the one you were trying to help. You ungrateful snot, I saved your-"

Hattie was grabbed the back of her robes. In her shock, she released Draco. "That's enough, Miss Potter." Snape, of course. "Maybe Mr. Malfoy would be more grateful if you didn't spend so much time rubbing it in his face?"

That hurt. Hattie hadn't once said anything about it before, well not to Malfoy's face anyway. Professor Snape lightly shoved Hattie in Professor McGonagall's direction. Hattie couldn't think of what to say, and Professor McGonagall's face looked stern. So much for turning the other cheek. "I'm sorry Professor," Hattie said to McGonagall.

"Oh please, we all know you were provoked," she said, more to Snape than to Hattie. "Shall we take a point from each house?"

"Has anyone even gotten any points?" Neville mumbled to Hermione.

"I got a few for helping a first year," Hermione said, though Hattie noticed a little sheepishly.

"Fine," Snape replied.

Both Hattie and Snape avoided each other's eyes. Professor McGonagall offered Hattie a weak smile, "Better grab your breakfast or you'll be late for your first class."

"Yes, Professor," Hattie said.

The Quartet hurried and sat down at a table. Hermione and Hattie sat on one side, Ron and Neville sat on the other. "That was vicious, Hattie," Neville said, though Hattie wasn't sure it was a negative response.

"It was brilliant," Ron replied, matter-of-factly, "at some point the reality has to hit him."

"You all right, Hattie?" Hermione asked.

Hattie nodded. "Just the excitement," she said. She didn't want to admit that Snape shook her up a bit. "We have to remember to write Dudley a Thank You letter. And maybe borrow Colin's camera so we can get a few pictures."

At that moment, the Tawny Frogmouth landed on the table. He carried a package, and he looked morosely around the table. "Why does he look so depressed?" Hermione asked.

"It's just his face," Ron said. "He looks a bit like Neville."

"Hey!" Neville said. "I don't look permanently sad." His eyes searched the faces on the table. "I don't, do I?"

"You don't," Hattie said, eager to open the parcel.

Of course, Hattie knew the owl was Lockhart's editor's. Even if he was on the run, Lockhart wouldn't miss the opportunity for a bit more fame. It must be his book. The Tawny Frogmouth flew off before Hattie could think to attach another note in return. She distantly heard Ron and Hermione arguing about Hermione's courseload as she opened the parcel.

The book was green with gold bindings. The cover read,

"BATTLING THE BASILISK

By Gilderoy Lockhart, the Fugitive"

In small letters at the bottom, it read,

"With an introduction by Hattie Potter, the Girl who Lived."

Hattie could feel the excitement well up in her chest. She told them she wouldn't do it if they put "Harriet" on the cover. She had to argue a bit, since "Harriet" is known as the saviour of the Wizarding world, but she managed to convince them that Hattie, the Girl who Lived, was better than no girl who lived at all.

She hugged it to her chest in the way that she assumed Hermione hugged all of her books. She wasn't too sure why she was so proud of it, but she was. It wasn't just a joke anymore. It was real. Well, as real as Lockhart's stories could be, anyway.

"Hattie," Fred said, squeezing between Ron and Neville. "George and I are very impressed with how you handled Malfoy there. You raised a good point."

"That's what I said," Ron muttered.

"Yeah, it wasn't just brilliant, it was –" Fred hesitated. "What are you holding onto?"

"Nothing," Hattie said, trying to shove the book under the table. If Fred caught wind of it, she'd never hear the end of it. She much preferred the compliments to the teasing.

"Was that a textbook?" Fred asked. "Are you becoming Hermione?"

"I'm sitting right here," Hermione said, obviously only willing to take so many insults in a day. "You shouldn't tease Hattie for trying to get ahead on her work. Not everyone is willing to settle for being the jokers of the group."

"Who says we're settling?" Fred asked. "It's hard work been this hilarious. Ask George, we have to dedicate a lot of time and effort."

"A lot of time and effort that could be spent on school," Hermione tsked.

Fred scoffed.

"Speaking of hilarious projects," Ron said. "Hattie and I wanted to propose something to you and George."

"Marriage?" Fred asked, batting his eyelashes.

"I said Hattie and I," Ron replied, sternly.

"Well there's George too," Fred said. "You can have him."

"Gross," Ron said, shaking his head and closing his eyes. "Gross in so many ways."

"What's the project?" he asked.

"Forget it," Ron said. "Just sod off."

"Your wish is my command," Fred said, standing up and bowing. "Wait, you have raspberry jam at this end of the table?"

"It's mine," Hattie said.

"I'll just take a knifeful," Fred said. "Just for my toast."

"I believe Ron told you to sod off," Hattie said.

"Just one knifeful," Fred said. "I won't even spill any."

"Fine," Hattie said. "Just be quick."

Fred dipped his knife in and, winking, left them alone. "We have Divination first," Hermione said. "I don't even think I've been to that part of the castle before."

"That means Hermione wants to go early," Ron moaned.

"Would you rather be late?" Hermione asked.

"Yes," Hattie said. "Come on, I can eat and walk."

"I find it difficult," Neville said, honestly.

Nonetheless, the Quartet started walking. Hattie tucked Lockhart's book into her bag. They all tried to eat on the journey up to the tower. The chatted excitedly about what Divination would be like. They got lost, but after asking the (often useless) portraits, they eventually made their way there. Most of the class were already there, despite the fact that the Quartet left early.

"If four of us were in a paper bag, do you think we could find our way out of it?" Neville asked.

"I'd just punch a hole in it," Ron said. "Or ask Hattie to."

"I've never tried to punch a paper bag, did you know that?"

Ron nudged Hattie and pointed at the ceiling where there was a circular trapdoor with a brass plaque on it. "'Sibyll Trelawney, Divination tracher,'" Neville said. "How do you suppose we get up there?"

"Magic?" Hattie asked, smirking.

As if on cue, the ladder appeared and they filed up it, with Hermione leading the way. Hattie thought Professor Trelawney looked odd, but dealt with her introduction anyway. She asked Neville about his grandmother, which made Neville uncomfortable.

They had to pair up to drink tea (like pansies, Hattie noted to Ron) and interpret the tea leaves remains. "Mine looks like a clump of leaves," Hattie said.

"Mine looks like Malfoy's face," Ron said.

Then Trelawney had a fit and told Hattie it looked like something called The Grim, a large black dog. "The giant, spectral dog that haunts churchyards! My dear girl, it is an omen — the worst omen — of death!" she explained, waving her arms about like a loon.

The other students debated what Hattie's crud looked like, but Hattie recalled the dog that bowed to her. Did Death bow to her? If anything, bowing was an act of submission. Hattie smirked at Ron. Death told her not to worry. Ron looked confused.

"As if I want any sort of whatever energy," Hermione said. "She's a hack."

"Clearly," Hattie replied. "But I did see a giant black dog a while back."

"What?" Neville asked. He was the only one visibly shaken up by the whole thing. He told Hermione to remind him to write a letter to his Gran. "You didn't tell us?"

"It was when we were walking back from the Zombie marathon," Hattie said.

"Which was brilliant," Ron noted.

"This big black dog walked by me, and he hesitated, and he bowed to me," Hattie said.

"A dog bowed to you?" Hermione asked. "And you didn't think of telling us?"

Hattie lowered his voice. "It was when someone gave me a gift, remember? I'm sorry I thought that was more important."

"I don't know what the Grim bowing means," Neville said.

"I'm taking it as a compliment," Hattie said.

They barely made it to Transfigurations in time. They quickly took their seats so Professor McGonagall could turn into a cat. When the reaction was less than excited, she implied that Professor Trelawney was a hack, and said flat-out that Hattie would be fine.

Neville felt better, and even Hattie felt more confident with Professor McGonagall behind her. Hermione, too, looked smug. Not everyone was convinced, but Hattie knew the people that were the most important were convinced.

They stopped at the Great Hall for lunch. This was when something horrible happened. Ron admitted he was worried about Hattie seeing the grim.

Neville concurred with him.

"But McGonagall said it was nothing to worry about," Hattie said.

"But she doesn't know you saw a real one," Ron said. "Hattie, this is serious."

Hattie scoffed. "It bowed to me," she said. "That's not something to be afraid of."

"People bow at the end of a show," Neville said, his voice quivering.

Hattie tried to suppress the fear that shot through her. "Hermione, you're on my side, right?"

"Of course I'm on your side," Hermione said. "This is ridiculous."

Hermione and Ron argued for the rest of lunch about the Grim. Hattie left to use the bathroom, and when she got back, Hermione was gone. They met back up with her for Care of Magical Creatures, and Hattie kicked herself for still forgetting the letter to Dudley.

Care of Magical Creatures was uneventful, if you call petting a Hippogriff uneventful. It was pretty amazing, and Hattie told Hagrid she thought he was a fine teacher. He was impressed, too, that it was Dudley who figured out how to open the books.

Draco, Goyle and some of the Slytherins looked sour that they hadn't heard the news, and Hattie assumed that they must have bought the books before Neville told the bookstore.(Pansy Parkinson and Blaise Zabini weren't in Care of Magical Creatures, and probably didn't have to deal with the book.) Hattie beamed that her muggle cousin knew more than the Slytherins. She considered rubbing it in their faces, but she didn't feel like having Snape tell her off again. What rubbed him the wrong way, anyway?

The four took to the owlry after class to send off the letters. "Who would have thought Percy'd have a box of crayons?" Hattie mumbled.

"Did you see Goyle pull Malfoy away from the Hippogriff?" Ron asked, laughing.

"I know!" Hattie said, joining in with her own laughter. "Who would have thought he'd have a brain bigger than Malfoy!"

"I would have done the same thing with you if Hagrid was there," Neville said. "I think that thing could have bitten off your hand easily."

"Are you saying you're smarter than me?" Hattie asked, pretending to be offended.

"We already knew Neville was smarter than Hattie," Hermione said, matter-of-factly.

Hattie laughed good-naturedly, giving Hedwig a friendly pat.

Neville wrote his letter to his Gran while Ron and Hattie covered the letter with rainbows and smiley faces with Percy's crayons.

"You know he's going to think you're being sarcastic," Hermione said.

"No way, he'll be so flattered," Hattie said. "Really, he'll get a kick out of it."

Nonetheless, Hermione signed her name, along with the other three.

They considered going to Hagrid's hut to congratulate them on their first lesson, but Neville wasn't allowed to go out after dark, so they decided to stay in.

Hattie didn't get the chance to look at Lockhart's book until the evening, when she was in her dormitory with the other girls. Lavender Brown and Parvati Patil talked excitedly about Divination, and Hermione started making a dent in her Arithmancy book.

"So are you like self-teaching yourself the other classes?" Hattie asked, hoping to show Hermione the book. She knew Hermione would be the only one not to make fun of her.

"No," Hermione said. "Professor McGonagall was very firm with me when she said that I shouldn't tell you."

Hattie scoffed. "I am the best secret keeper," she said. "No one would ever know."

"Not even Ron?"

"Especially not Ron," Hattie said.

Hermione smirked. "I don't believe you."

Hattie shrugged, eager to change the conversation to herself. "Look what I got in the mail."

Hermione tried not to gasp when she saw the book. "Is it out already?" she asked. "I thought the release date was around Christmas."

"Maybe they gave me it early because…"

Hattie pointed to her name on the book.

Hermione nodded, "Lockhart didn't sign it with all his titles. See, it just says, 'Gilderoy Lockhart, the fugitive,' instead of 'Professor Gilderoy Lockhart, Order of Merlin, Third Class, Honorary Member of the Dark Force Defence League and five-time winner of Witch Weekly's Most-Charming-Smile Award.'"

Hattie rolled her eyes. "Maybe he's trying to make a bad-boy image. Look."

"Oh you wrote an introduction!" Hermione said, excited. "Can I read it?"

"Of course," Hattie said, hopelessly proud of herself. "You can read it even before I do."

"Oh good," Hermione said, opening the book.

Hattie flinched when Hermione cracked the spine.

Hermione said, almost breathlessly, "Hattie, look."

Hattie looked. Lockhart had signed her book.

"Thank you for your testimony at my trial. Even if it didn't change the hearts of the council, it certainly touched mine.

"Don't worry about me, I'm fine. More than fine, really.

"All my best, Gilderoy Lockhart."

"As if I'd worry about him," Hattie scoffed.

Hermione hesitated. "Can you tell me about the trial?"

"I wrote you a novel and owled it to you," Hattie said, exaggerating.

"Can you tell me again?" Hermione said. "Everything this time."

"Are you worried about him? He's fine. Look he even told me he's fine."

Hermione hugged her knees to her chest. "Just tell me."

Hattie nodded and retold the whole trial, well what she could remember of it. Hermione tried to help her sift out more details that she forgot, and Hattie had to lower her voice as Lavender and Parvati decided to sleep.

When Hattie was finished, Hermione looked thoughtful. "I'm impressed with your testimony," she finally said.

"Thank you," Hattie said, actually flattered.

Hermione and Hattie tried to sleep afterwards. Hattie lay on her back, feeling uncomfortable. She tossed and turned for a while, but she couldn't dose off. She leaned over her bed to sift through her bag to try to find something to read. She found Quirrell's mirror, wrapped up.

She looked at Hermione, but she didn't stir.

Taking the mirror, she got up and walked to the girl's washroom. She put the lid down and sat on the toilet and looked in the mirror. Her voice low she asked, "Professor Quirrell?"

His face appeared, and Hattie noticed more of his hair had grown back. She could see a poster in the background, but she couldn't make out the title. "Hattie?" he asked. "Is everything all right?"

"Everything's fine," she said. "I couldn't sleep."

"I know the feeling," Professor Quirrell replied. "Voldemort used to read while I slept, but when I woke up, it never felt like I had slept at all. Now I usually have to take a potion to sleep and wake up refreshed."

"I don't have that excuse," Hattie said, smiling sheepishly.

It was nice to have things in perspective. It was easy to forget how close she had been to Voldemort. Tom Riddle was only a fragment, but the rest of Voldemort had lingered on the back of Quirrell's head. Quirrell knew what it was like to live in that fear.

"I'm sure you have other excuses," Quirrell said. "Are you in the ladies' room?"

"Privacy," Hattie said. "I assure you I have my pants on."

Quirrell laughed softly, "So was there something you wanted to talk about or are you just trying out the mirror?"

"What do you know about Professor Trelawney?"

"Did she predict someone's death?"

"Mine."

"It's nothing to worry about," Quirrell said. "She predicts everyone's death. Everyone's gotta die sometime. She'll be right eventually."

"It's not just that," Hattie said. "Ron's worried because according to her the Grim was in my tea leaves, and a big black dog bowed to me the other day."

"You saw a Grim?" Quirrell asked, visibly concerned.

"Yes," Hattie said. "Hermione thinks it's nothing, but-"

"Well, you are a target for Voldemort," Quirrell said, "but he's not going to act unless he has a body. Is there anyone else you can think of?"

"I saved Malfoy last year and he's mad at me," Hattie replied, "but I don't think he's going to try to kill me over it."

"Anything else?"

"Snape's acting weird but that's Snape," she said, Quirrell offering her a smirk. "Oh, Sirius Black is after Neville."

"Really?" Quirrell asked.

"Yeah, and if he tried to hurt Neville, I'd get in the way," Hattie said. "There's no way I'd let him kill Neville."

"Why do you think Sirius is after Neville?"

"Well everyone does. His parents were the ones that caught Sirius and put him away. His mum's having a bird about the whole thing. She even yelled at my Aunt for letting him go to the movies with us. Plus, apparently in Azkaban he kept saying 'He's at Hogwarts' and it's not like he'd be after Ron or something."

"Who else is at Hogwarts that Sirius would want to go after?"

Hattie snapped her fingers. "Professor Lupin's here," she said. "Apparently they used to be friends. Maybe he wants to kill all of his childhood friends?"

"So you heard about what happened," Quirrell said. "If you heard about him being at the school, would you face him?"

"To avenge my parents or something?" Hattie asked. "No, no. Voldemort first. Voldemort was the one that killed them."

"You said first," Quirrell said. "You honestly would face Voldemort yourself?"

"Maybe after I learn a few more spells," Hattie said. "Is there something I should know?"

"No," Quirrell said, shaking his head. "It's just…"

"What?"

"Sometimes I get flashes, fragments of his thoughts," he said. "I just don't know if they're real or if he's placed them in me."

"And what do you see?"

"It's what I don't see," Quirrell said. "I don't see Sirius Black."

"You mean, he's never met Voldemort?" Hattie asked.

"Let's not jump to that conclusion," Quirrell said. "There could be many memories that I'm not seeing. One where Sirius is present."

Hattie was suddenly excited. "What if he's innocent?" she asked. "He could be like Lockhart, on the run and all that."

"Lockhart's not exactly innocent though," Quirrell said.

"He's pretty harmless," Hattie shrugged, continuing, "but if Sirius is innocent, who would he be going after at Hogwarts?"

"I'm not sure," Quirrell said. "The more important thing to wonder is, if Sirius is innocent, who is guilty?"

Hattie thought about this for a moment. She noticed Quirrell blinking more slowly and yawning. "You don't suppose Azkaban drove Sirius Black so mad that he would go after Neville anyway, do you?"

"Honestly, Hattie, I don't know anything about him," Quirrell said. "Or Azkaban for that matter, thank goodness."

Hattie grinned. She had forgotten Quirrell was on the run too, and she was a little pleased that so many fugitives wanted to stay in contact with her.

"Listen, Hattie, my potion is starting to kick in. Please, if you're thinking about doing anything that could put your life in danger, consult with me first, all right?"

"All right," Hattie said, smiling. "I promise."

"Goodnight, Miss. Potter."

"Goodnight, Professor Quirrell." Hattie replied.

And when she finally curled up in bed, she managed to drop into a heavy sleep.


	7. The Boggart in the Dungeons

Disclaimer: I acknowledge that I do not own any of the Harry Potter characters or universe. No offense is meant by the situations portrayed in this or any other fanworks.  
A/N: The next chapter is Lupin-centered, to counteract all this Snape. I'm pretty excited about it.  
I took down the poll, but you can see the reults on my LJ (my homepage), it's one of the Hattie Potter Notes. If you missed the poll, you can leave a comment there saying who you'd prefer or just your general thoughts on it. There's a new poll running about who you wouldn't want to see Hattie with.  
Again, my schedule is still busy, so I might miss next week's update.

Chapter Seven: The Boggart in the Dungeons

It was the last decent sleep Hattie had. She kept having nightmares about Snape's robes turning into a dementor and attacking various people about the school. She'd always wake up just before the dementor consumed her.

She lumbered down to the Great Hall with her friends on Thursday, when they had Double Potions with the Slytherins. It really bothered her that everyone was cheerier than she was. Was everyone sleeping more than her?

It probably didn't help that she started staying up late to talk to Quirrell after everyone else went to bed. They didn't really talk about Sirius again. They ended up talking about film like when they first connected. It wasn't that Hattie didn't have anyone to talk to, it was that Hattie liked having a secret friend. Also, not many of the students at the school were into film, let alone American horror movies from the 70s. So Quirrell had his bonuses.

When the Quartet passed the Slytherin table, Hattie shot Draco an "I dare you" look. He pretended not to see her. She dropped into a seat and started eating breakfast. Neville and Hermione talked excitedly. Ron ate morosely like her, but he still looked like he was happier than she was.

"Scabbers not getting any better?" Hattie asked.

"No," he said, lowering his voice. "I think it's because of that cat. We have to talk to Fred soon."

"Tonight," Hattie said. "We'll get something to distract her."

That's when Rubeus landed on the table at the Great Hall. Hattie noticed a note tied to his talon, but the owl acted like he was having a fit. Well, more of a fit than usual. He fluffed up his feathers in Neville's face, squawking angrily at him. Neville was completely taken-aback. He offered the bird a crust, but Rubeus batted it away with his wing, yelling at him.

"I don't know what he wants," Neville said.

"Let me grab the note," Hattie said.

She reached over to grab it, but Rubeus swivelled his head around and screeched at her. "I'll grab him," Ron said, standing up. "You grab the note."

Rubeus marched right over to Ron and squawked at him, apparently telling him the plan wouldn't work. He then turned back to Neville and rambled loudly again, flapping his wings at him and fluffing his feathers.

"He wants something," Neville said.

"Well, we don't know what he wants," Hattie replied. "Getting all mean isn't going to help us understand why at all."

Rubeus turned around and screeched at Hattie again. "Yeah, yeah, I heard you the first time," Hattie replied.

Rubeus relaxed and stared directly into Neville's eyes. Hattie watched as his shoulders tensed. Rubeus held out his leg. Neville took the note off. After giving the four of them (even Hermione who chose not to act) an extremely dirty look, flew off.

"It's from Dudley," Neville said, handing it to Hattie.

Hattie skimmed the note, "He wants us to take pictures of Hagrid teaching."

"Why would Rubeus be upset about that?" Hermione asked.

"What if it was something else?" Neville asked. "He approached me directly."

"He's an owl," Hattie said. "And he doesn't like anyone except you, Dudley, and my Aunt."

"But what if he was warning me?"

"Okay," Hermione said. "What would Rubeus being warning you about?"

There was silence between the Quartet while they all considered what an owl would know. "What if he saw Sirius Black?" Neville asked. "What if Rubeus is warning me?"

"I don't think Rubeus would even know Sirius Black if he saw him," Hermione said, gently.

"It's possible," Neville replied. "Well, it's not impossible."

"What if Sirius Black is innocent?" Hattie asked.

Ron choked on his drink.

"He's not," Neville said. "My parents wouldn't make that mistake."

"Why would you think that?" Hermione asked.

"Well, I was talking to Quirrell-"

"What?" Hermione asked. "When?"

"All this week, maybe," Hattie said.

"I thought we said we were going to discuss when you talked to him," Hermione said.

"Hattie can't stop to talk to you every time she plans to do something," Ron said, though Hattie wasn't sure he was on her side. "Let's be realistic."

"Nonetheless," Hermione said. "You could have told us the first time."

"Well, I didn't want to have this conversation," Hattie said.

"Well, we wouldn't be having this conversation if you had told us," Hermione said.

"You're right," Hattie said. "We'd be discussing whether or not I should keep talking to him, which I am anyway."

"What did he say about Sirius?" Neville asked.

Hattie was surprised at how serious Neville looked. Usually he looked nervous or put on a brave face, but this time his expression stayed stony. Looking at Neville, Hattie didn't feel as excited and confident as she had before. She was going to talk about a feeling someone else had. It wasn't even her own feeling.

"Well, he said that some of Voldemort's memories were stuck on him, and he said that there were no memories of Sirius Black," Hattie said. "But he said it could just be that any memories of Sirius weren't on him. He didn't say it was a sure thing."

They all stared at Hattie as if she was a moron. Ron cleared his throat. Neville's eyes narrowed. But Hermione tried to find the best of it: "The next time you talk to Quirrell, you should ask him what portion of Voldemort's memories he thinks he has. That way we can consider how seriously to take his thought."

Hattie didn't appreciate her condescending tone. She wished Sirius was innocent just so her thought could be justified. "Well, it was just something to think about," Hattie said. "Quirrell made it sound convincing."

Neville scoffed.

Hermione changed the topic, and their breakfast turned back to their normal routine. Neville seemed to completely forget about Rubeus' strange behaviour. Hattie's frustration lingered in the back of her head with a headache.

During potions, Hattie lucked out being paired with Hermione again. She seriously feared working with Neville or Ron instead, but Hattie took a seat and Hermione simply sat down beside her. She supposed it helped that both Ron and Neville were unimpressed with the mention of Sirius Black being innocent, and probably had no desire to sit beside her.

She shrugged it off. It was their loss and her gain.

Hattie mindlessly peeled the Shrivelfig and minced the daisy roots. Her cooking with Aunt Petunia made her used to the chopping required in potions, but not for the mixing portion. Hattie's apathy didn't help either.

She didn't watch Snape skulk around the students, yelling at Seamus for accidentally sneezing into his potion. Hattie's head felt too cloudy to focus on much else, so she peeled.

And peeled.

And peeled.

"Miss. Potter," Snape snapped, snatching the Shrivelfig out of Hattie's hands. "If you peel that anymore, there won't be anything left."

Hattie looked at the juices from the plant on her hands. Would her hands shrivel up? "I'm sorry, sir, I must not have been paying attention," Hattie said, absently.

There were snickers from the Slytherin side of the room, but Hattie's head was too cloudy to really hear them. Snape let out a laugh in disbelief. "Not paying attention, Miss. Potter?" he asked. "Of course you wouldn't be paying attention. This is only your Potion's Class. Merlin forbid you actually care about something that Miss. Granger can just carry you through."

Hattie briefly wondered if Hermione could carry her to her next class. What was next, anyway? "Hermione," Hattie asked. "What're we going to next? Can you carry me?"

Snape slammed his hand down on their desk. "Focus, Miss. Potter," Snape said, leaning over to stare directly at her face. "I do not know nor do I care about what your particular issue is today, but I will not tolerate your moronic behaviour. You are going to peel another Shrivelfig. You are going to mince fresh daisy roots since these here are useless. You are going to help Miss. Granger make the Shrinking Solution rather than let her do it herself."

Something snapped in Hattie's head. Shrinking Solution. "Yes, sir," Hattie said.

"10 points from Gryffindor for Miss. Potter's obtuse nature," Snape replied.

Hattie mumbled an apology to Hermione once Snape walked off. "I'm sorry, I wasn't paying attention," Hattie said.

"Are you all right?" Hermione asked.

"Just a bit of a head cold," Hattie replied. "Nothing to worry about. I'm just going to talk to Ron for a second, okay?"

Sighing, Hermione nodded. Hattie swivelled in her chair to talk to Ron, who sat directly behind them. "Remember what we talked about a little while ago?" Hattie asked.

"We talk about a lot of things," Ron said, somewhat sharply. He clearly had no intention of talking about Quirrell.

"You know, the thing that we were going to ask Fred about," Hattie said.

Ron's face lit up. "Yes," he said. "I remember."

"I think this could work perfectly," Hattie said.

"Miss. Potter! Mr. Weasley is not the daisy roots you should be mincing. Turn around," Professor Snape snarled from the other side of the room. "That's 5 more points from Gryffindor for being completely impossible!"

Hattie turned around and went back to mincing. Ron murmured behind Hattie, "I'll handle it."

Hattie nodded to show she heard. "I've been having nightmares," Hattie said to keep Hermione from asking about Ron. "So I haven't been sleeping well."

"What about?" Hermione asked.

"The dementors," Hattie said, lowering her voice. "He turns into one."

"Ron?"

Hattie motioned her head towards Snape. Hermione covered her mouth to hide her smile. "I can see why your brain would make that comparison."

Hattie smirked, but it didn't last. "I just don't like being the only one who's affected this way," she admitted. "Neville's mum cast this spell that kept them at bay."

"You could talk to Professor McGonagall," Hermione said.

"Miss. Potter, your daisy roots are looking a little thin," Snape shouted from the other side of the room. "Please watch your cutting so Miss. Granger doesn't have to."

Hattie stopped cutting. Hermione continued, "Or you could ask Neville's mum. She'd probably work with you and everything."

"But she's mad at my Aunt," Hattie said, "and I won't see her until the summer. What if I need to know before then?"

"Then you talk to Professor McGonagall," Hermione replied.

"Less chatter, Miss. Potter," Snape shouted.

Hattie rolled her eyes, but it shut her up. They focussed on finishing their potion, and Ron winked at Hattie. She knew what it meant. Hattie also decided something else, but she decided against announcing it. The last time she announced something, her friends were less than supportive about it. She supposed she didn't blame them, considering the material.

As the class filed out, Hattie told Hermione she'd catch up with them.

Hattie walked up to Professor Snape's desk. "Professor Snape," Hattie said, leaning against his desk. "I was wondering about something."

"Were you wondering how many points you could lose from me in a day, Miss. Potter?" Professor Snape asked.

"No," she replied. "I believe the answer to that is 'however many points Gryffindor has,' sir."

"You should not make assumptions about me," Snape replied. "You try too often, Miss Potter, and it never ends well."

"I'm sorry, sir," Hattie asked. "When I visited Lockhart in Azkaban,-"

"If you simply want me to listen to an anecdote, you may want to consider stopping," Snape replied. "You'll be late for your next class, Miss. Potter."

"I don't care," Hattie said. "Please, sir, I don't know how else to ask this."

"Just come straight out and ask me," Snape replied. "I do not respond well to pussyfooting."

"I saw Alice Longbottom cast a spell that kept the dementors away," Hattie said. "I want to learn it, and I came to ask you to teach me."

Snape scoffed. "I am a Head of House, I don't have time to humour your casting fantasies."

"Well, I thought of asking Professor McGonagall, but she's Head of House too. And everyone knows you want the Defence Against the Dark Arts position, which means you'd know some defence against the dark arts. And if dementors don't fall under the dark arts category, I don't know what does."

"This is not helping to convince me," Severus replied.

"Come on, you can practice your great teaching on me," Hattie said, wiggling her eyebrow. It was a move she learned from Fred.

"I already have experience, Miss Potter," Snape replied.

It was obviously more charming on Fred.

"Well, I guess I better go then," Hattie replied. "I have Defence Against the Dark Arts next with Professor Lupin. I figured if you turned it down, I'd ask him."

Snape narrowed his eyes at Hattie. Hattie smiled and began to walk away. Both of them knew exactly why she said what she did. Since Hermione didn't out-right trust Lupin, Hattie wasn't entirely sure she wanted to go to Lupin for help. But if Snape didn't, she'd have to go to Lupin. She had to learn that spell with the glowing mouse.

Hattie noticed his next class begin to filter in on her way out. Percy gave her a curious glance. "Wait," Professor Snape said. Half the people filtering in stopped, looking at Snape expectantly. He continued, "Miss. Potter, you may serve your detention tonight. Come to my office."

"Yes sir," Hattie replied, trying to suppress her smile.

"Hattie," Percy hissed. "Detention already?"

"But of course," Hattie said.

Percy scoffed, and Hattie darted out of the potion's lab to go to her next class. How would Lupin react if she was late (which she was bound to be)? He would probably chuckle and say, "Oh Miss. Potter, you are the spitting image of James," Hattie thought.

As she was fantasizing, she bumped into a plump boy. He looked older than her, but she didn't recognize him. But then again she hardly knew any of the Hufflepuff upper years, and he certainly looked like a Hufflepuff.

"Oh, I'm sorry," Hattie said, eyeing him up. He wasn't wearing a Hogwarts uniform, but the twins were known to slide out of theirs from time to time. "I didn't see you."

The boy simply nodded and ran off, turning back to absently look at Hattie. Hattie, used to being gawked at, rushed to Defence Against the Dark Arts.

Hattie was surprised to find that Neville loved Professor Lupin. The class went by quickly, and Hattie, too, found herself entranced. Only Hermione was still leery, claiming that he was sucking up to the students.

"He probably knew that our other two Professors were rubbish," Hermione said at lunch, "so he's trying to make things interesting."

"I thought you liked Lockhart," Hattie said.

"Yes, but I'm not going to fool myself by thinking everyone else did," Hermione replied.

"Hattie," Ron said with a low voice. "There's a problem."

"What?" Hattie asked.

Hermione and Neville curiously looked at Hattie and Ron. Hattie hadn't lowered her voice. She felt too stuffy and tired, and she couldn't exactly moderate her speech. "Ron," she said, "come with me to see Madam Pomfrey. She should have a potion I can take."

Ron nodded and, once Ron grabbed food to eat on the way, the pair left the Great Hall. "What happened?" Hattie asked.

"The potion broke in my bag," Ron said. "You'd think Snape would use something make the potion bottles unbreakable."

"He probably does it to keep students from taking potions," Hattie said, stretching.

"Either way, everything in my bag shrunk," Ron said. 'That includes all of my textbooks, quills, parchment, and Scabbers. He's missing."

"Well, if he's smaller, Crookshanks should have a harder time finding him," Hattie reasoned.

"The stupid potion was to shrink Crookshanks," Ron said, "not Scabbers. And now Scabbers could be anywhere. This was a terrible idea."

"I'm sorry," Hattie said. "I didn't think it'd break in your bag."

"I know," Ron said. "Maybe we should just leave the pranks to Fred and George."

"So you don't want to shrink Crookshanks?"

"Let's focus on finding Scabbers first," Ron said. "Then we can find another way to deal with that cat."

They reached the hospital wing, and Ron waited outside of it while Hattie saw Madam Pomfrey. She felt better with the potion in her, and her head cleared. When Hattie stepped out, Ron asked, "So are you really sick?"

"Something like that," Hattie said. "It's not helping that I'm not sleeping well."

"Because you stay up and talk to Quirrell," Ron muttered.

"No, whenever I sleep I see those things," Hattie said.

"Do you know what I have nightmares about?" Ron asked.

"No."

"I wake up and I'm back home. I walk downstairs and no one even notices that I'm there. Mum didn't even set a spot for me at the table," Ron said.

Hattie nodded, trying to think of a reply.

"Dreams aren't real," Ron said. "You can't let them bother you. Professor Dumbledore would never let those things onto the school grounds."

"He let them on the train," Hattie said.

Ron shook his head. "That was different."

"When I went to Azkaban to see Lockhart, Neville's mum cast this spell that kept the dementors away. A little mouse came out of her wand and walked around with us. I asked Snape to teach me the spell," Hattie said.

"And he agreed?"

"Yeah, I knew what button to press," Hattie said. "Give me the stuff that shrunk, I'll get him to fix them for you."

"Do you really think that's necessary?"

"Well, you need the textbooks," Hattie said.

"No, I mean. Do you really think you need to learn something like that?"

Hattie shrugged. "I don't know, but it'll help me sleep."

Ron nodded, and they walked in silence for a moment before Ron asked, "You don't really think Sirius is innocent, do you?"

"I don't know," Hattie said. "But if he's really after Neville, I'll be there."

"Just so long as you're not learning that spell to keep the dementors away from Sirius," Ron said. "You're far too trusting with these creeps. You've got to remember that Quirrell tried to kill you in first year. Lockhart killed a student last year. And Snape's nothing but a greasy git."

Hattie decided against arguing. "What do you think of Professor Lupin?" she asked. "Neville loves him."

Ron laughed. "I know. He seems like a good guy. And better than that, he seems to know what he's talking about."

"Yeah, that's what I thought," Hattie said.

"So are you going to be all suspicious of him like Hermione?" Ron asked.

"I thought you were just complaining about me being too trusting of creeps," Hattie replied.

Ron shrugged. "Well, he was a friend of your dad's."

"So was Sirius Black," Hattie said.

"We should stop talking about this," Ron said.

"I don't get why Sirius Black is such a big deal," Hattie said.

"Aside from the fact that he's trying to kill Neville," Ron said.

"Well, of course," Hattie said.

"I don't really know how to explain it," Ron said. "He was the beginning of the end of the Wizarding War, Hattie. He sent You-Know – Voldemort to his doom, thinking that it would be his ultimate victory, and in the process he killed Pettigrew and a heap of muggles. He's a complete horror, Hattie. The ultimate bad guy. He's the one who showed Voldemort where your parents were. He's the reason your parents are dead."

"Voldemort is the reason my parents are dead," Hattie snapped. "No one else did that. He's the one who raised his wand."

"Why do you refuse to take Sirius seriously?" Ron asked. "He's after one of your best friends. Hell, half the time I feel like you and Neville get along better than you and me. And yet you refuse to acknowledge what he did."

"Voldemort did it," Hattie said. "He's the one that-"

"Raised his wand, yes, I know, but Sirius is the one that pointed him in the right direction."

"But he was going that way anyway, wasn't he?"

"Hattie, I can't talk to you when you're like this," Ron said. "I don't understand how some people can be outright villains, like Malfoy, and others, like Sirius and Quirrell, are grey areas."

"Well, I know Malfoy. I see him all the time. I've never met Sirius."

"So the fact that there are heaps of witnesses saying they saw Sirius kill all those muggles doesn't mean anything to you?" Ron said.

Hattie shrugged. "I'm sure it means something."

"Let's just drop it," Ron said.

Hattie nodded. "Fine by me."

The rest of the day progressed quickly and uneventfully. Percy made a scene in the common room when Hattie left to see Snape. He still thought she had a detention, and he gave her a stern lecture (as Head Boy) to show the first years that this behaviour is not acceptable, not even for Hattie Potter. Fred and George found it quite humorous, and undermined all the work Percy did.

Hattie left with Ron's shrunken things jingling in her robe pockets. As she felt the cold drifting through her, she tried to think of what excuse she'd give for Ron's small belongings. She also kept her eye open for any small mice, but found none.

She knocked on the door to Snape's office. He gave Hattie the once over, looking for something to criticize, but waved her into his office. "I was going to have us work in the potion's lab, but I felt a smaller location may be more efficient," he said, shutting the door behind her. "Are you familiar with boggarts, Miss. Potter?"

Hattie nodded. "We learned about them today."

"I overheard you tell Miss. Granger that you've been having nightmares about dementors," Snape said.

Hattie's cheeks burned at the mention of this. It meant Snape heard she dreamt that he turned into one. It would not be a compliment to overhear that.

"Would you say that a boggart would probably turn into a dementor at this moment?"

Hattie tried to think of her other fears. The Mirror of Esired came quickly to mind. "It might," Hattie said. "There's only one other thing it would turn into."

Snape nodded. "We'll use the boggart as a practice dummy," he said. "If it doesn't turn into a boggart, then we'll practice the spell without it until I can find a better substitute."

"Okay," Hattie replied.

"The spell's incantation is 'Expecto Patronum,'" Snape explained, and Hattie mouthed the words soon after. "You'll have to focus on a particularly happy memory when casting it."

Hattie smiled. "Seriously?"

"Yes," Snape replied, keeping his expression straight. "This will be particularly difficult among a dementor because, as you know, they'll suck the happiness out of you."

"Right," Hattie said, sheepishly.

"Do you want to practice it once?"

"No," she said. "If it doesn't turn into a dementor, then I'll have a lot of practice without one."

"Do you have your happy memory in mind?"

"I was planning on winging it," Hattie said.

"I highly recommend thinking of one first," Snape said.

Hattie paused before saying, "Okay, I've got one."

"Miss. Potter, are you lying to me?"

Hattie noticed that he was suppressing a smile. "I'm just really excited," Hattie said. "Can this be a happy memory?"

She was, actually, very excited. She had never worked one-on-one with Snape before, and he had prepared this all for her. Plus, when she figured out how to cast the spell, her nightmares would stop and there was one more magical creature she could defeat.

"I notice you are feeling better," Snape replied.

"I got a potion from Madam Pomfrey," Hattie said. "Oh, also. Ron shrunk a bunch of his things with his potion."

Hattie pulled them out of her pockets. Snape blinked. "Are you stalling, Miss. Potter?"

"I worried that I'd forget if I held off telling you," Hattie said.

"Or do you tend to just say the first thing that arrives into your head?"

"You say to-may-to, I say to-mah-to," Hattie replied.

Sighing, Snape held out his hand. "Mr. Weasley must have been careless while mixing," he replied, raising a brow.

"Right," Hattie said.

"Is that your happy memory?" he asked. "Mr. Weasley shrinking his belongings?"

"Sure," Hattie said.

Snape put his hand on the cupboard door. "And what is the incantation?"

"Expecto Patronum," Hattie said, steadying her wand.

Without warning, Snape flung open the door. Hattie felt the fear creep through her as the dementor's cloaked head pressed itself out through the entranceway. She felt cold. She felt fear. She told herself to think of a happy memory, but she could only think of how mad Neville was at her for thinking Sirius Black was innocent.

"The spell, Miss. Potter," Snape said.

Her vision began to cloud over. Screams lurked in the back of her mind. Familiar screams. And then- "Miss. Potter."

Hattie blinked.

Snape must have forced the Boggart back into the cupboard.

"Surely now you realize the importance of having a happy memory on hand," he said.

"Yes," she replied. "Give me a moment to consider."

She couldn't use any memory with Aunt Petunia or Dudley. In those scenarios, Dudley ultimately undermined the happy moment by being a prat.

"I wish I could remember more about fighting the basilisk," Hattie admitted. "That must have been a happy memory, but now it's just confusing."

Snape cleared his throat. "There must be something less dramatic that is still happy. Or are you so much of a glory hound that a normal happy memory is not good enough?"

And for a moment, Hattie wondered if maybe she was. None of her happy memories really stood out to her. Even her Quidditch glories didn't seem like they were enough – especially since Ron and Hermione were unconscious for them. But that couldn't be it. She thought about laying on the grass at the burrow with her friends. That was happy, even when they were talking about what dangers they may face.

"I've got one," Hattie said.

"Do you want to practice once-"

"No," Hattie said.

And Snape opened the door again. Hattie said the spell instantly, remembering her friends sitting on the grass. She closed her eyes and repeated the spell. She remembered them on the grass.

As the cold creeped through her, the grass began to turn grey.

Her friends grew older in front of her eyes, withering instead of looking stronger. Hermione started screaming, but it wasn't her scream.

Hattie repeated the spell, but she couldn't find her voice. The scream grew clearer as her memory began to fade completely into darkness.

"Miss. Potter, please get up."

Again, Snape had manoeuvred the Boggart into the wardrobe while Hattie was busy being horrified. This time she was on the ground. She felt exhausted, and she propped herself up with her elbow. "Professor McGonagall was telling me that chocolate strengthened you after you encountered a dementor."

"Do you plan to have chocolate on the battlefield, Miss Potter?" Snape asked.

"Maybe?"

She looked into Snape's dark eyes.

She corrected herself, "No, sir."

"Why start learning with a crutch, Miss. Potter?"

Hattie decided against saying you would learn with one because it's easier. That's why she started learning to ride a bicycle with training wheels, although both Dudley and her gave up on learning how to ride one. Maybe Snape had a point.

Hattie stood up in response, feeling the blood draining out of her head.

"Perhaps another happy memory, Miss. Potter," Snape said.

She decided on something more specific. She was happy when she talked to Quirrell the night before. Of course, she had the nightmare after that, but that didn't matter. She looked forward to talking to Quirrell.

"Okay," Hattie said. "I've got one."

"Are you certain, Miss. Potter?"

"Yes, sir," Hattie replied, though she gripped onto Snape's desk to keep her steady.

Again, Snape opened the door. Hattie felt the fear before the boggart even appeared. This was a mistake. She closed her eyes to think about talking to Quirrell, but she kept seeing Voldemort in the mirror. She had the worst luck with mirrors. She said the words, but even she could feel how weak it was.

The screaming started clear this time. She must be too weak.

"Focus Miss. Potter," Snape's voice penetrated the screams.

Hattie told herself how much she liked talking to Quirrell, but all of her friends were there, telling her not to trust him. She couldn't trust him. He tried to kill her. She looked into the mirror again and heard different voices.

Her mother. Voldemort. "Oh Merlin," Hattie said, feeling the tears pour down her face.

"Concentrate, Miss. Potter."

"No," Hattie said, waving her arms, keeping her eyes tightly shut. "No, no, no. Put it away."

"Miss. Potter, you must-"

"I'm not waiting until I black out," Hattie said, opening her eyes. "Riddikulus!"

Nothing happened.

There is nothing under the Dementor's robes, Hattie told herself. She screamed, "Riddikulus!"

The dementor took off its hood.

Beneath the dementors ragged robes, Snape's pale face appeared.

And Professor Snape found himself staring at himself.

He turned to Hattie. "Is this your idea of a joke, Miss. Potter?" he spat.

"No," Hattie said, quivering. She tried not to look at it. "No, I-"

"Forget it," Snape said. He waved his wand, and the boggart found itself thrusted back into the wardrobe. "You're not strong enough to do this."

"That's because each time it's harder," Hattie said. "Professor McGonagall says-"

"Oh please," Snape said. "If you want me to coddle you with chocolate every time you're a little scared, you've come to the wrong person."

"No," Hattie said. "No, I need to do this. One more time."

"Miss. Potter," Snape said. "I honestly am getting tired of you wasting my time."

"Please," Hattie said. "Please sir, one more try."

The two watched each other. Hattie trying to keep her gaze locked on his. Snape looked deformed between the tears lingering in her eyes. She tried to focus on a happy thought, but nothing came to mind. Her mind felt numb, she couldn't think straight, but her body felt tense. Her body reminded her to be afraid.

"Fine," he said.

He opened the door without warning. She raised her wand, saying the incantation, but her mind was blank. No happy memory came to mind, only the screams, the voices. She heard her mother beg Voldemort to spare Hattie's life. She heard him kill her. She heard it all.

And suddenly it was gone. Everything. She only saw darkness, and she didn't realize it was because her eyes were squeezed tightly shut.

Hattie sobbed big heavy sobs. She wanted Snape to hold onto her. She wanted to get lost in his robes. She wanted him to hug her and hum to her like Aunt Petunia did when she was upset.

But he wasn't Aunt Petunia.

Not even close.

"Get up, Miss Potter."

Was that his foot against her ribs?

"Get up," he repeated.

Hattie opened her eyes. She took a deep breath and wiped her face on the sleeve of her robes. She looked up at Snape. His eyes were hard. He looked disgusted.

She probably looked pretty weak, crying on the floor like that.

Hattie didn't try to get up. "Why can't I do this?" she asked.

She worried she wasn't happy enough, but that wasn't true. She was happy. She had a great life. Certainly, it could be a lot worse.

"Miss Potter, this spell is ridiculously advanced," Snape said. "Some full-grown wizard's cannot cast this spell. There is no way a student of your capacity could perform it. I'm not sure why I let you even talk me into trying."

That stung. "Do you think Hermione could do it?"

"No," he replied.

Hattie sat up and stared at her feet. She didn't want to give up, but she certainly felt like giving up. She wouldn't be strong enough. She couldn't even ride a bicycle.

"There's only one person I could see mastering this at such a young age," Snape said, watching Hattie carefully.

"Professor, if you say Draco Malfoy, I will use an unforgivable curse on myself as get it all over with," Hattie said.

"No," Professor Snape said. "Lily Evans could have."

Hattie looked up at him.

"Sometimes I think you have more of your father in you."

She looked back to her feet. "I heard her dying," Hattie said. "I heard the whole thing."

Snape said nothing, and Hattie didn't look at his face to see his reaction. What was wrong with being like her father, anyway?

"What sort of happy thought is going to counteract that?" Hattie asked.

He offered no advice.

"Is that why I get so weak around them?" Hattie asked. "Because these are my memories?"

"Yes," Professor Snape replied.

"Well, that stinks," Hattie said, trying to smile. "I didn't even know I remembered that."

"Are you giving up, Miss Potter?" Snape asked.

"No," Hattie said, firmly. She stood up, gripping onto his desk to keep steady, again. "I can't afford any weaknesses."

"Are you planning on continuing to waste my time with incessant whining?" he asked.

"No," Hattie said, trying not to get angry. It was very difficult not to get angry.

"Very well, Miss. Potter," he said. "Please continue to define these meetings as detentions."

"Of course, sir," Hattie said.

"But please do not take that as permission for bad behaviour."

"Yes, sir," Hattie said through gritted teeth. "I won't."

"You may return to your Common Room for the evening," Snape said.

"When should I return?" Hattie asked.

"Next week, same day," Professor Snape said. "And I suggest thinking about what memory would be the happiest. Perhaps you should make a list?"

"Yes sir," Hattie replied. "I'll consider it homework."

Snape nodded. "Good night, Miss Potter,"

"Good night, sir," Hattie said and left his office.

The walk back to the Gryffindor Common Room was a long one. Hattie had to constantly keep her mind busy so it didn't drift back to the conversation the boggart-dementor reminded her of. She could feel her nose stuffing up and her eyes start to well-up, but she didn't want arrive at the common room in tears.

She made a pit-stop in the bathroom, and she considered taking a break to talk to Quirrell. But the bathrooms weren't as private at the time, and she could get interrupted by Myrtle. She also didn't feel like talking to him. The images of her friends telling her not to trust him lingered in the back of her mind. Their new friendship wasn't as strong as Hattie thought it was.

Maybe all of her friendships were this weak. Maybe her friendships were like a spider's web, it could catch and keep a fly, but what happened when someone jabbed their finger through it?

It didn't help that Professor Snape didn't give her Ron's things back. She'd share hers, of course. The Shrinking Solution was her idea.

When she stepped into the common room, she found Neville and Ron playing Wizard's Chess, Hermione working on her schoolwork at a desk, and Ginny and Colin sitting on the sofa, talking excitedly about something Hattie didn't particularly care about. She sat down between Ginny and Colin, ignoring the fact that the sofa was almost definitely only meant for two people. She put her arms around both of them, prying into their conversation.

Hattie desperately wanted to be with people that cared about her.

Both were ecstatic to see Hattie, and if they noticed that she looked terrible, they didn't mention it. Hattie even managed to get Fred to share some of the chocolate he was eating. And maybe it was the chocolate, or maybe it was around her friends, but Hattie felt better.

Most importantly, Hattie felt happy. And with this happiness, Hattie felt she wouldn't fail again.


	8. Flight of the Fat Rat

Disclaimer: I acknowledge that I do not own any of the Harry Potter characters or universe. No offense is meant by the situations portrayed in this or any other fanworks.  
A/N: I am so sorry, girls are weird.  
Also, there's still the "who you wouldn't want to see Hattie with" poll and my updates will probably be every other week for a while.  
Also, thank you to everyone who reads, reviews, watches, and so on. It really means a lot to me.

Chapter Eight: Flight of the Fat Rat

Hattie sat up quickly in bed. Someone had touched her arm, but it felt like someone ripped her from her dream. The dementor dreams were getting worse, more oppressive, but there were a few dreams where she just sat, talking to Quirrell. She never understood what those ones meant, she could never control the words coming out of her mouth, nor could she understand them. It was as if she wasn't entirely there.

It was a whisper. "Hattie."

Hattie turned over. Hermione. "Everything okay, 'Mione?"

"I was about to ask you the same thing," Hermione said.

Hattie felt the bed shift as Hermione sat down on it. Hattie sat up. "Was I talking in my sleep?" she asked, checking the beds of Parvati and Lavender. They weren't in their beds. Hattie continued, "What time is it?"

"It's nine at night, Hattie," Hermione said. "You came back from your detention and just came straight up here."

It was the beginning of October. Hermione, Ron, and Neville knew what Hattie's detentions with Snape were, but they still referred to them as detentions. They couldn't figure out what else to call them.

Hattie rubbed her eyes. She was still wearing her robes. "Why did you wake me up?"

"I finished Lockhart's book," Hermione said, smiling.

She handed the book to Hattie, and Hattie felt the weight of it in her hands. "How did you find time?" Hattie asked, laughing.

"I made time," Hermione said. "It's different from his other stuff, but I really liked it."

"And my introduction?" Hattie asked.

"Was brilliant, obviously," Hermione said.

"Obviously."

Hattie set the book down in her bag, and Hermione didn't move. Hattie really just wanted to crawl back under the sheets. She never talked to Quirrell after her detentions anyway. "Is there something else?" Hattie asked.

"I want to talk about these detentions," Hermione said. "When you come back, you either cling to us or go straight to bed."

"It's just really draining," Hattie said. "You remember what it was like, right?"

"I remember," Hermione said. "It's just you never talk to us about them."

Hattie laughed, but it came out as more of a scoff. "Ron and Neville don't want to hear about it."

Hermione shook her head. "I know, they think you're doing this to protect Sirius or something," she said. "I don't know why they're taking it so personally."

Hattie shrugged, offering a smile. She'd been feeling it, the webs of their friendship thinning. Each detention she went to, it was harder facing the dementors. She hadn't made any progress at all. Every week she was reminded of her failing friendships and her own weaknesses.

"I know why you're doing it," Hermione said.

"So that I don't pass out every time I get close to one of them," Hattie said.

"No," Hermione replied. "It's so that you don't have any weaknesses. You hate failing at anything. You don't mind not being the strongest or the fastest or the best, but you hate not being able to do something."

Hattie laughed. "And why do you think that is, Miss. Granger?"

Hermione smirked, but her brown eyes stayed serious and intense. Hattie sheepishly looked away. "I don't know," Hermione said. "I don't understand why it's so important that you put yourself through this. Honestly, none of us know how to deal with you moping. It's so foreign to us. I'm not saying, you know, cheer up for our sake. Just… tell me what I can do to help."

"I don't know," Hattie said. "And I moped a lot when Ron and you were petrified last year. So ask Neville how he dealt with me."

"I think Neville has enough on his plate without worrying about you too," Hermione said.

Hattie didn't say anything. What was she supposed to say? She definitely didn't like Neville being as paranoid and serious as he was now. He even began taking Divination seriously.

"I don't mind being terrible at Divination," Hattie said. "That's an acceptable weakness."

Hermione laughed. "Yes, it's a complete joke, right?"

"Yeah, it's a complete waste of time," Hattie said, laughing as well. She began feeling better, the sorrow in her lifting. "And all the Professors think Trelawney is mental."

"I don't blame them," Hermione said.

"Even Quirrell thinks so," Hattie said, "and he had Voldemort on the back of his head."

"Did Voldemort think she was crazy?"

"He didn't say," Hattie replied, "but he did talk more about what he taught in Muggle Studies. How are you finding Muggle Studies?"

"It's interesting," Hermione said, "but a lot of the information is really redundant."

"Because you were raised in that environment," Hattie said. "So it's not like the stuff Quirrell talks about?"

"I don't know what Quirrell talks about," Hermione said.

"Do you think I could switch out of Divination and into Muggle Studies?" Hattie asked. "Would you think I could do that?"

"I don't know," Hermione said.

"Would you help me catch up?" Hattie asked.

"Are you sure?" Hermione asked. "I mean, Divination's easy, at least."

"Yeah but it's boring," Hattie said, "and I don't mind giving up."

Hermione nodded. "I'd help you catch up. We could talk to Professor McGonagall and see if she'll let you switch."

"Really?" Hattie asked.

"Yeah, I'll go with you," Hermione said. "I'll vouch for you."

"Merlin, I hope this works," Hattie said, leaning back and covering her eyes with her arm. "I'm tired of being dead to the Divination class."

"Hattie Potter."

Hattie lifted her arm to look. Lavender Brown and Parvati Patil were in the room, which made sense since they slept there too. "Yep?" Hattie asked.

"I know why you've been so tired and grouchy lately," Lavender said, hands on her hips.

Hermione and Hattie exchanged looks. They couldn't know about the boggart. "Because I'm constantly in detention with Snape?" Hattie asked.

Parvati scoffed. "You love getting under Snape's skin, that's not it."

"Well then maybe you enlighten us," Hermione said.

They weren't exactly the closest roommates. In fact, they tended to ignore each other. Lavender and Parvati were pretty much opposite of Hermione and Hattie. They liked clothes and boys and looking pretty and gossip whereas Hattie and Hermione liked working and getting dirty and having adventures and gossip about villains. It wasn't the ideal situation, they weren't the boys' dorm where everyone was friends, but they didn't exactly hate each other.

"Hattie's started her period," Lavender said, matter-of-factly.

They didn't hate each other, yet.

"Excuse me?" Hattie said, her eyes narrowing.

Hermione looked like she was trying not to laugh, and Hattie shot her a deadly look. "I was seeing Madam Pomfrey for the same reason, and she mentioned that you were in there earlier," Lavender said, puffing up a bit, clearly proud.

"I'm sorry for not keeping you up to date on what my body is doing, Lavender," Hattie said with venomous sarcasm. "Did you just want to confront me on the issue or did you want to exchange feminine napkins?"

"That's gross, Hattie," Parvati said.

"I didn't mean used ones," Hattie replied.

Lavender softened. "I actually just wanted to know if you two wanted a girls' night," she said.

"What?" Hattie said.

"A girls' night," Lavender repeated. "Like we do each other's hair and nails and talk."

Both Hermione and Hattie self-consciously checked their nails. Hermione's were bitten short, and Hattie had dirt under them, but she couldn't remember the last time she had gotten dirty. Gardening in the summer, maybe? Or maybe one of Hagrid's classes?

"Why?" Hattie asked.

"We haven't exactly gotten to know each other," Parvati asked. "Maybe this would help."

"And what does this have to do with Hattie's movement into puberty?" Hermione asked.

"It inspired me to bond with her," Lavender said.

"Well can Hermione come to this girl's night?" Hattie asked. She turned to Hermione, "Have you started to, you know?"

"No," Hermione said, trying to decide whether to be disgusted or amused. "Not yet."

"But she can still come, right?" Hattie asked.

"Of course," Lavender said. Hattie noticed Parvati's cheeks burn. "What's your homework load like? Can you take a night off tomorrow?"

"What about next month?" Hattie said. When Lavender and Parvati looked offended, Hattie continued, "Like, the next time it happens for me. We'll make a day of it and do some serious female bonding."

Parvati shot Lavender a look, as if she was wondering if Hattie would live that long, but Lavender looked pleased. "All right," she said. "We're really looking forward to it."

"We are too," Hermione said, sounding genuinely interested.

Then it was awkward since Parvati and Lavender had no intention of leaving and Hermione and Hattie couldn't exactly go back to talking about Divination being a joke. But they eventually overcame it and moved on with their evening.

Hattie and Hermione didn't get the chance to talk about the bizarre habits of normal girls until the next morning, when they were walking to find Professor McGonagall. "It's a rite of passage Hattie," Hermione said. "Some girls think it's really important."

"Well I think it's really gross," Hattie said, "and you're not going to get all gushy when it happens to you, are you?"

"You won't even hear about it," Hermione said.

"Good," Hattie said, "because when it happened to me, Aunt Petunia got all teary and weird, and then she contacted Hogwarts which eventually led to her talking to Madam Pomfrey about the most efficient feminine napkins and what the Magic Community had versus the Muggle Community and Hermione these are not things that anyone needs to hear about."

"Do you think we'll study it in Muggle Studies?"

Hattie almost stopped in her tracks, but she saw Hermione offer a small smirk. Oh, a joke. "It would still be better than Divination," Hattie said, with a laugh.

"No kidding," Hermione said.

She knocked on the door to Professor McGonagall's office. Hattie noticed that most Professors kept the doors to their offices closed, and Hattie wondered how many of them snuck naps in their offices in between classes. She definitely couldn't picture Snape or McGonagall sleeping in their offices, but maybe Professor Flitwick.

Professor McGonagall opened the door, and she looked slightly surprised. "Oh, Miss. Granger, Miss. Potter, what can I do for you two this morning?"

"Well," Hermione said, "We were wondering if we could talk to you about a class issue."

"A class issue?" Professor McGonagall asked, shooing Hermione and Hattie into her office and closing the door. "Miss. Granger, I believe we discussed that you could drop a class if you found things too overwhelming. You don't need Miss. Potter here to convince me."

"Actually, it's about Hattie," Hermione said, giving Hattie a look that told her to shut up. Hattie wasn't always the best at schmoozing Professor McGonagall. "Hattie's been complaining to me that she finds Divination very frustrating because Professor Trelawney is constantly saying her life is at an end. And I don't know if you've noticed, Professor, but I've noticed that Hattie's mood has been greatly affected by it. She rarely even has the motivation to argue with Malfoy."

"While I appreciate less conflict, I have noticed the change in Miss. Potter. But, I can't exactly tell Professor Trelawney to stop her…" Professor McGonagall rolled her eyes as she added, "her predictions, Miss. Granger."

"Actually, I had another suggestion for a solution," Hermione said. "I've been talking to Hattie about my Muggle Studies homework and she seems very interested in it. It's still early in the year, do you suppose she could switch into my class? I would help her catch up, but I wouldn't be surprised if she's already up-to-speed with all the conversations we've been having."

Professor McGonagall's eyes scanned from Hattie's face to Hermione's, clearly calculating any ulterior motives. "Both of you were raised in a Muggle environment. Does Miss. Potter suspect she'll find it simpler to take a class with content she's already familiar with? I notice you're not suggesting Arithmancy for an alternative subject."

Hermione laughed, and Hattie tried to choke out laughter. "Professor McGonagall, can you see Hattie in Arithmancy? It's not the sort of subject she would excel in."

"What?" Hattie asked, clearly offended.

Hattie looked to Professor McGonagall for defence, but only saw a small smile on her Professor's face.

"Well, it isn't, Hattie," Hermione noted. "But Muggle Studies is very interesting because it lets us see the magical view of our parents- or guardian's- lifestyles. It's part of learning a new culture, to see how the new culture views our original one. Plus, it'll still be harder than Divination. Between you and me, Professor, Ron and Hattie have been having a contest to see who can come up with the most horrific scenario that Professor Trelawney approves of."

Professor McGonagall exhaled. It was true, but Hattie was still worried about getting scolded.

Hermione added, "Hattie just wants the most out of her education, and she definitely doesn't want to hear constant predictions of her death. Some of the students treat her as if she's in line for the Dementor's Kiss."

Hattie flinched.

"Miss. Potter," Professor McGonagall started, "tell me exactly what interests you in Muggle Studies without mentioning how much you dislike Divination."

Hattie swallowed. "W-well Professor," Hattie said, trying to remember the things she and Quirrell talked about. "Part of it is what Hermione said, you know seeing your own culture from someone else's eyes, and the other part of it is… well…"

Professor McGonagall's green eyes pierced through her. She wasn't buying it.

Hattie continued, "Hogwarts took me out of the Muggle Community very early, and I'm not saying I don't like being a witch, but I can't help feeling like I'm missing something by being here instead of at home with my Aunt or with my cousin. Their world is just as much as a part of me as this world is, and I think it's important that I stay connected with that world.

"And I know it's going to be a lot of work. Before Professor Quirrell, uh, tried to kill me, we had talked about what sort of things he taught in Muggle Studies, and if Professor Burbage teaches even a fraction of what he does, it's going to be interesting and challenging."

Professor McGonagall nodded. "All right, I will talk to Professor Dumbledore and Professor Burbage. Miss. Granger, it will be your job to make sure Miss. Potter goes in with all the information you know about Muggle Studies."

Their pair stood up, Hermione nodding. "Of course, Professor."

"Thank you, Professor," Hattie added.

"Don't thank me yet, Miss. Potter," Professor McGonagall said. "You should know by the end of the day what our decision is."

"Well, thank you for even considering it," Hattie said as they stepped out of her office.

Professor McGonagall stood up at her desk. "And Miss. Granger?"

"Yes, Professor?" Hermione asked, turning around.

"There was no need to lay it on so thick," Professor McGonagall said, but Hattie couldn't help but notice a vague smile.

And by the end of the day, Hattie Potter was in Muggle Studies. Hermione, however, took her job very seriously and tried to catch Hattie up very quickly. It turned out Professor Burbage's Muggle Studies started off rather boring, but still, it was better than Divination. The thing that interested Hattie the most about Muggle Studies was that a very uncomfortable looking Goyle sat in it. His other Slytherin companions were absent, and he was never seen talking to anyone or even participating in the class.

Of course, her switch out of Divination was not happy news to everyone. Neville was horrified that Hattie left because how would she know if she was in danger? And Ron, well, Ron was furious that she didn't take him with her. Hattie honestly hadn't wondered about her friends' reaction to the switch, and she felt rather guilty for leaving them behind.

During one of her detentions with Snape, she wondered whatever happened to no man left behind. She had to tell herself that this was school, not a warzone, but sometimes she didn't feel much differences, especially after Oliver Wood started fierce Quidditch practices.

Hermione comforted Hattie by saying that there was no way Professor McGonagall would have let Ron switch with Hattie because she wouldn't have taken Hattie's concerns as seriously. "It's good to have one class without him, Hattie," Hermione added. "I take classes without you guys and I'm fine."

"Yeah but you like this boring stuff," Hattie said.

"Well at least you have me," Hermione said.

Hattie didn't pout for long. She took Hermione's concerns about her mood very seriously, and she tried to stay chipper and happy around Ron and Neville. Ron grew less sour with Hattie, especially after she and Ron snuck out late under the invisibility cloak to do a quick search for Scabbers. Even though nothing turned up, Hattie felt her web of friendship strengthen again.

Neville was another story. He worried about everything. Hattie constantly found him lost around the school, or outside Gryffindor Tower because he had forgotten the password. He acted as if he was always lost, and she wasn't sure what to do to help him feel confident again. She couldn't be around him all the time, especially as Quidditch practice ate up the remainder of her free time. And Neville even turned down the position as Team Mascot.

"I can't, Hattie," he said. "It's like wearing a bull's eye on my back for Sirius Black."

On the 31st of October, the day of the much anticipated Hogsmeade trip, Hattie proposed something to Neville. "I know your parents didn't sign your permission form, but what if you snuck out under my invisibility cloak. There's no way Sirius would find you there, and we'd be with you the entire time. You'd still get to be in the city, too."

"No thanks," Neville said. "I think I'd rather be in the school. Maybe you can pick me up something though?"

"Yes," Hattie said, "stink bombs."

"Candy," Ron added, salivating.

"New quills?" Hermione suggested.

"Everything and anything," Neville said, "and come get me when you get back."

"Where will you be?" Hermione asked.

"Probably the common room," Neville said. "I really don't want to be anywhere my sister can find me."

"Sounds like a good plan," Hattie said.

So the trio left to Hogsmeade while Neville walked back to the Common Room. Hattie was impressed with Hogsmeade and had a very lovely and uneventful day. She spent a good amount of gold on things for Neville, Dudley, and her stomach.

It was when she got back to Hogwarts that she realized someone's day was chaotic. Filch and Professor Sprout filed the students coming back from Hogsmeade into the Great Hall by, and neither authority was willing to talk. There dinner spread out along tables in the Great Hall, but the Head Table was empty. The Prefects were told to keep everyone in the Great Hall for the time being.

After some searching, (and a delay for a quick conversation with Ginny), Hattie, Ron, and Hermione managed to find Neville in a spot, looking rather pale. He seemed relieved that they found him. "I have to tell you what happened," he said.

They nodded seriously, eager to hear about it.

When Neville walked away from his friends, he decided not to walk to the Common Room. After helping Neville with an assignment, Professor Lupin told Neville that his office door was always open if he needed extra help. Neville had gone to talk to the Professor various times, and he decided to have a quick chat with him instead of moping in the Common Room.

"Oh Hattie," Neville interrupted. "Professor Lupin always tells me to send you to talk him. He says he wants to tell you about your parents."

"I'll remember," Hattie said.

Hattie had felt particularly torn about talking to Lupin. It felt like a betrayal to Snape for some reason. Snape wasn't exactly telling her about her parents, nor was she improving at the Patronus Charm at all, but it still didn't feel right to talk to Lupin. Also, Hermione still acted extremely suspicious of him, which didn't help Hattie's trust of him either.

There had to be a reason that Snape disliked him. It could be a stupid reason, Snape didn't like a lot of people, but there had to be a reason nonetheless.

When Neville arrived in Lupin's office, the man looked quite contented. He saw various future lessons scattered around the room. But there was one thing that caught his eye.

"Scabbers!" Neville said.

The rat was sitting in one of the tanks, alone. He looked healthier, definitely chubbier, and had his own cushion and a dish of food. His head peeked up to look at Neville.

"What?" Lupin asked. Neville hadn't even bothered to greet Professor Lupin yet, and he seemed taken aback.

"That's Ron's rat, Scabbers," Neville said. "He's been missing, we thought maybe Hermione's cat ate him."

"Is Miss. Granger's cat the ginger beast? I've seen him lurking around here," Lupin said.

"Ron thinks the cat has a grudge against Scabbers-"

"See Hermione!" Ron said. "Your cat is hunting Scabbers."

"Crookshanks has a name, you know," Hermione said.

"Where's Scabbers now? Is Professor Lupin holding onto him?" Hattie asked.

"Guys let me finish," Neville said. "Always interrupting."

"I wouldn't be surprised," Lupin said. "I've shooed him away more than once."

"Can I take him back to Ron?" Neville asked. "He'll love to see him."

Lupin hesitated, eyeing Neville. "Sure," he replied, "but did you want to talk first?"

"Of course," Neville said.

Neville and Lupin talked about things that he didn't care to repeat to Hermione, Ron, and Hattie, but mainly because they were boring and not at all interesting. But their pleasant conversation was interrupted. Snape swooped in as if people never have private conversations. He was holding a smoking goblet, very suspicious-looking.

He set it down on Lupin's desk, and Lupin eyed it before looking up at him. "I'm having a conversation with the Longbottom boy," Lupin said.

"I can see that," Snape replied. "You should drink that directly, Lupin."

"Yes, yes, I will," Lupin replied.

"I made an entire cauldronful," Snape continued. "If you need more."

"I suppose I will," Lupin said, sighing slightly. "Thank you, Severus."

Snape didn't look at Neville before leaving the room. Lupin pushed the goblet away and turned his conversation back to Neville. He didn't inquire about the potion, as much as he wanted to, but he didn't see Lupin drink it. He didn't blame him, it looked dangerous, horrifying even.

Lupin stood up and stretched, saying, "Your friends should be coming back from Hogsmeade soon, and I didn't get any of my papers marked."

Neville noticed a magazine on Lupin's desk, but he understood. He didn't want a chatty student in his office all day. "Of course," Neville said. "I'll just take Scabbers to Ron."

"Right," Lupin replied.

Scabbers ran away from Lupin's grasp, but eventually his hand wrapped around his stout little body. He handed the squirming rat to Neville, who struggled to hold onto him. Neville stumbled into the hallway, walking back to the Gryffindor Common Room. He watched Scabbers more than his surroundings because the rat desperately tried to escape.

"Probably worried about Crookshanks," Ron muttered to Hattie.

But then Neville saw him, a man rushing at him. He saw the face.

"Sirius Black," Neville gasped.

The rat sunk its teeth into his hand, and Neville yelped. It snapped him out of his frozen state. "Sirius Black!" Neville screamed. "Sirius Black!"

He ran in the direction that Scabbers charged off in, scooping the rat up as he passed him. He didn't turn around, he could hear Sirius's heavy footsteps charging after him. The paintings on the wall shouted along with Neville until he stumbled face-first into Lupin. Scabbers went flying out of his hand, and Lupin shoved Neville into his office. "Stay here," he said, firmly.

"So I stayed, and the next thing I knew Professor McGonagall was escorting me to the Great Hall to be with everyone else," Neville said.

"Weren't you scared, waiting in Lupin's office like that?" Hattie asked.

"Terrified," Neville said, lowering his voice. "I thought that any second Sirius would barge through. He must have pulled back once the portraits started yelling. There's no way I could have outrun him."

"So you dropped Scabbers," Ron said, sighing.

"Ron, how can you think about that at a time like this?" Hermione asked.

"D'you still think he's innocent Hattie?" Neville asked.

Hattie scoffed. "Oh please, I was just suggesting it," she said. "I didn't actually believe it. I'm just sorry we weren't there."

Neville nodded. "Me too," he said, looking at his friends. "I didn't know what to do."

"All right, Neville?" one of the twins asked, sitting down next to Ron. "I suppose it must be a little horrifying hearing about him in the castle like that."

Hattie noticed the other with Lee Jordan sneaking food off of Percy's plate. "How do you know we're in here because of Sirius?" Hermione asked, narrowing her eyes.

The twin scoffed. "I know everything," he said.

"You got it out of Percy," Hattie said.

"But I still know everything," he said.

"Do you know where Scabbers is?" Ron asked.

"Ate himself to death," he replied.

"Merlin, you're useless," Ron said.

"But still I know everything," he replied, standing up. "Let me know if you need anything, Neville, but I'm pretty sure I saw a bushy-haired-little-know-it-all buying something for you."

"Is that how you see me,… Fred?" Hermione asked.

"George," he said, winking. "And I meant bushy-haired-little-know-it-all in the most endearing way possible."

"You know how you can tell?" Hattie asked.

"George asked how Neville was," Ron said. "Fred would have started with a snarky remark."

"I'm not sure that's always true," Hermione said. "Plus, he didn't wait to hear Neville's reply."

"But I still asked," George said. "And how are you holding up, Neville?"

"Well, I'm still here," Neville said.

"You're not eating," George said. "Get something in your stomach while you see what this lot brought you back."

Neville nodded, and George gave him a friendly (yet hard) pat on the back.

"All right," Neville said, rubbing his hands together and showing his teeth in an eager smile. "Show me what you brought back."


	9. Grim Reminders

Disclaimer: I acknowledge that I do not own any of the Harry Potter characters or universe. No offense is meant by the situations portrayed in this or any other fanworks.

A/N: I will not be updated throughout the month November because of NaNoWriMo, and I will only be updating once more in October. It will probably be near the end of the month. Updates will resume in December, but I'm not sure about the frequency. Also, I'm a mod in a (very) small Writing Community called "The Periwinkle Pen." It's based on friendly feedback and writing exercises, so if it sounds like something for you, be sure to check it out. It's a private community, so you have to join to see the fourm. The link is on my profile page.  
There will be a new Hattie Potter Notes up on my LJ next week to make up for the lack of update. Be sure to ask questions if you want HP Notes throughout November.  
And the "who don't you want Hattie to be with" poll's still up. I like that it's essentially the same as the other poll.

Chapter Nine: Grim Reminders

The tension never left the Great Hall. Even though Neville was laughing and snacking on what they brought him, Hattie saw him frequently check the exits and the Professors that came in and out of the Great Hall. It wasn't even decorated for Halloween to keep their minds off the occasion, and Hattie didn't know if Neville would get any sleep tonight.

She also wanted to slink off for some privacy to talk to Quirrell, but she wouldn't be able to leave the Great Hall. And she couldn't exactly just start talking to him in public.

Ginny and Colin sat with them, including some blonde spacey friend who did not make any profound contributions to the conversation, so the conversation was tolerable, tolerable until Natasha decided to grace them all with her presence. Every time Hattie saw her upturn nose she wanted to slug her, though Malfoy's face had the same effect.

"See you're still alive then, Neville," Natasha said, trying to sit down beside Hermione.

"Yup," Neville said, plainly.

"You know what I don't understand?" Natasha asked, stretching her hands out across the table.

"Everything," Hattie muttered to Ron.

Ron used a soft, mocking voice, "Why doesn't the universe revolve around me?"

The two exchanged giggles, and they received a deadly look from Natasha. Hermione rolled her eyes while Neville pretended not to hear them. "What don't you understand," Ginny said diplomatically, trying to hide the smile on her face.

Hattie noticed the blonde girl pull out a magazine. "I don't understand why Sirius Black would go after Neville instead of me," she said. "I mean, I'm the more intelligent one, I'd clearly be more of a loss than Neville."

"Wow, that's rude," Colin remarked. "Clearly you missed Neville being mascot last year. If Sirius Black takes him down, he'll take down the Soul of Gryffindor."

The news didn't spread that Neville wasn't being Team Mascot again. Wood suppressed it, hoping he could convince Neville to do it at the last minute for the spirit of the game.

Natasha scoffed, eyeing up Colin. She made the mistake of insulting him when she first met him. Colin, with absolutely no tact, often spoke his mind regardless of the danger it put him in. And he was terribly loyal to his friends, which Hattie always appreciated.

Natasha's mind whirled as she tried to come up with something to say. Hermione said, "He picked the first born. It's possible he didn't even know there was another one of you, not that either of you are better than the other, of course."

Neville's eyes scanned Hermione quizzically. "Yes I'm the first born," Neville said. "I beat you to the punch there."

"Stealing all the good genes," Hattie added.

"I have my own jeans," Natasha said, eyes shifting from Neville to Hattie. "I'm going to go back and sit where it's less… stupid."

"Good luck," Ron muttered under his breath once she walked away.

Hattie laughed. Hermione looked like she was about to scold her when Lavender and Parvati sat with them, sighing dramatically. Lavender invaded Hattie's bubble by sitting too close to her. "We were supposed to have our Girl's Night, and then this happened," she said.

Hattie could smell the cream in her curls. "Yeah, it's such a shame Sirius Black ruined our girl's night," Hattie said.

"It really is," Parvati said.

"We can do it tomorrow," Hermione offered.

Hattie cringed. She actually was sort of happy it was interrupted.

"I thought today was the only day you two could do," Lavender said.

"I have a match with Slytherin coming up," Hattie said. "I should be training."

"Oliver has nothing booked for you tomorrow," Hermione replied. Hattie tried to figure out her ulterior motives. "It should be fine."

Hattie tried to decide if she could mentally communicate to Oliver Wood that she wanted to train tomorrow. "Oh no," Hattie said. "Tomorrow's detention with Snape."

"I don't remember him giving you a detention," Lavender said.

"And tomorrow's Monday," Hermione said, suspiciously.

Hattie said, "First, we wanted it on the weekend so we could stay up late. Today was a terrible day anyway because it was Halloween, but we decided we'd have too much sugar in us to sleep. Second, Snape and I rescheduled our detentions from Thursdays to Mondays because we normally practice Quidditch on Thursdays."

"So wait, does he just assume you're going to do something terrible on Thursday and have the detention on Monday or is it spill-over?" Lavender asked, sceptically.

"Also, I don't remember you doing anything bad this week," Parvati noted. "Do you actually have a detention with him every week?"

Hermione gave Hattie a smug look. She revealed too much in her own lie. "Uh, no, we just rescheduled just in case I did something stupid and the detention was for something I did after class," she explained.

Lavender shrugged. "It's easy to get a detention from Snape," she said, "especially when he's watching you like a hawk."

"I know, right?" Hattie said, somewhat excited. "It's horrible."

"Next month's Saturday then," Hermione said, quickly, "after Hattie's Quidditch. She'll be tired, but that means she won't talk too much and control the conversation."

"That sounds great," Parvati said.

"But we might not be," Lavender's eyes shifted from Neville and Ron, both who were trying to follow the conversation, "you know."

"That doesn't matter," Hermione said. "It just means we'll be less tired, except Hattie."

"And my opinion doesn't matter either apparently," Hattie said.

"Nope," Hermione said. "So next month's Saturday? The 28th?"

"The 28th it is," Lavender replied.

"I can't wait," Parvati said with a pleasant smile.

They headed back to their end of the table. "You really think I take control of conversations?" Hattie asked.

"You're having a girl's night?" Ginny asked, with just a hint of disgust. "What's that about?"

"Don't ask," Hattie said. "Please, don't even ask. Why were you so pushy about it, Hermione?"

"Because they'll keep nagging us until we do it," Hermione replied.

Hattie asked, "But what if they want more?"

"It's going to be a fun social experience to discover what real girls are like," Hermione said.

"But you are real girls," Neville said.

"They're more like pretty dolls," Ron noted.

"Pretty dolls?" Hattie asked.

"Like, you and Hermione are action figures. You move around and are cool to have. But Parvati and Lavender are like those dolls that Ginny keeps in her closet that just sit there and look nice, if you're into dolls that look nice, which Ginny is not," Ron explained.

Neville looked confused. "So then what are we? Are we action figures too?"

"Sure," Ron said.

"Are there boys that are dolls?" Ginny asked, smirking at Hattie.

"Yes, him," Ron said, pointing at Cedric Diggory.

"But he's amazing at Quidditch," Neville noted.

"But he looks too good while doing it," Ron said. "He's just a doll on a broom."

The blonde noted, "You know there are creatures that possess dolls and live in their frames? I thought I caught one once, but it turned out just be a ghost."

"Really?" Colin asked. "That's brilliant."

There was silence as they all tried to decide what to reply to her. Hattie decided the best way to deal with it was changing the topic: "I would say Cedric is more of an action figure," Hattie said. "You haven't played against him."

They stopped talking as they noticed a few of the Professors walk in, chatting quietly with one another. Even the blonde looked up from her magazine.

"Yeah but I've seen him play," Ron said.

"Oh guys I just remembered something," Neville said, leaning close. "When I was in Lupin's office, Snape gave him a smoking potion. It looked really dangerous. I think he might be trying to hurt Lupin."

"Why would he hurt Lupin?" Hattie asked, scoffing.

"Well, he hates him," Neville noted. "He makes that part clear."

"Professor Snape would get caught," Hermione said, "if he tried anything. He doesn't seem like the type of person that would risk that much just for a grudge."

"It sounds like a Wolfsbane potion," the blonde noted, turning a page in her magazine. "Is Professor Lupin a werewolf?"

Ron sighed. "Doll creatures and Professor werewolves," he muttered under his breath.

"No, that would make sense," Hattie said. "See, Snape is trying to help."

"Yeah but it also means Professor Lupin is a werewolf which is stupid," Ron noted. "Why would Dumbledore have a werewolf teach us?"

"Well, he's a good Professor," Colin noted.

"His last name is Lupin," Ginny added.

"But he could also rip our heads off," Ron said. "Not a werewolf."

"Then what would the smoking potion be?" Neville asked.

"Maybe he just likes really hot drinks," Hermione said. "I'll think about this."

And with Hermione thinking about it, everyone relaxed. Conversation changed to back to normal as more Professors filed in. They seemed to be discussing what to do.

"I really hope we get a bathroom break soon," Ginny said. "Because Sirius Black or not, I really have to go."

Of course, the Quartet kept Neville's involvement with Sirius under wraps, even from Ginny and her super weird friends.

"I'm with you," Hattie said, thinking more of Quirrell than her bladder. "Did they really think we could hold it in all night?"

The enchanted ceiling clearly showed that it was night, the moon hovering over their now ended feast. They had to have been searching for at least six hours, though Hattie wasn't sure she'd see all of Hogwarts in six hours. But Ginny definitely had to use the washroom.

As if on cue, Professor Dumbledore announced that the students could head back to their dorms. They thoroughly searched the castle, and they wouldn't be letting students out of their dorms without an escort. The students were tense, but Ginny exhaled. "At least I'll be able to use the washroom," she said, "and sleep in my own bed."

"I'm definitely looking forward to the bed part," Colin noted, yawning.

Percy and the other prefects filed their students to their respective houses. Neville observed that Professor McGonagall walked with them, keeping an extra eye out for him. George, too, squeezed in with them instead of wreaking havoc with Fred and Lee Jordan. George was more focussed on lifting their spirits, and by making running water noises for Ginny.

"This line cannot move fast enough," Ginny yelled, shoving George. "This is getting serious, my bladder is going to explode."

"You shouldn't have drunk so much at dinner," Ron noted.

"I wouldn't have drunk so much if someone hadn't eaten all the food on the table," Ginny snapped. "Seriously, you ate everything."

"Not true," Ron said, hoping someone would defend him.

"You even finished my cheesecake," Neville noted.

"You don't ever let cheesecake go to waste," Ron said, proudly.

As soon as they were in the Gryffindor Common Room, Ginny and several other students bolted to the bathrooms. Hattie realized she'd find no privacy there, and even if she did have to go to the bathroom, she wouldn't be able to. Professor McGonagall lingered for a few minutes, answering questions with short answers.

Hattie pulled away from her friends to sneak up to her dorm. Lavender and Parvati hadn't made their way there yet, and she was alone. She rummaged in her suitcase for Quirrell's mirror. He was already in the mirror, reading something that Hattie couldn't quite see. "Hattie!" he said, offering a smile.

"Hold on," Hattie said. "Someone could come in, I'm moving somewhere else."

Quirrell nodded, looking over her shoulder. She stuffed him in her pocket and grabbed her invisibility cloak. The bathrooms outside the Common Room would be quiet, and if she ran into Moaning Myrtle, well, Hattie was confident the spirit would keep a secret for her.

Hattie tossed the invisibility cloak around her, and she made her way through the Common Room. She bumped into a few people, but it was so crowded, that no one really thought twice about it. But when she tripped on Percy, his eyes shot around suspiciously, and his hand reached out. He almost pulled off the invisibility cloak, but Hattie managed to manoeuvre out of the way just in time. His eyes scanned areas where she wasn't as she slipped out the door.

She passed a few staff members as she made her way to Myrtle's bathroom, but she found the bathroom empty. It was possible the spirits had been recruited to search for Sirius too, and Hattie was completely alone. She considered using the bathroom first, but the thought of Quirrell waiting for her made her too anxious.

So she pulled him out of her pocket.

"Hattie, are you all right?"

Hattie look confused. "What do you mean?" she asked. "Sirius Black was sighted in the castle, but he's not after me."

"What? Sirius Black was in the castle?" Quirrell asked.

"Yes," Hattie said. "Why did you ask if I was all right?"

"Well," Quirrell said, sheepishly. "It's Halloween."

"As if I'd be scared of a few spirits and monsters," Hattie said.

She looked into Quirrell's grey eyes watching her, and she suddenly remembered what she forgot. "This is the day my parents died."

"I didn't mean to upset you," Quirrell said. "I just thought, you know."

"I forgot the day my parents died," Hattie said, feeling a mix between anger and self-loathing build up in the form of tears behind her eyes. "What kind of daughter does that?"

"You never knew," Quirrell said. "You just found out a few years ago, and you were caught up in the excitement of the day."

"That's why I should remember," Hattie hissed. "None of my friends said anything."

"They probably just didn't want to upset you," Quirrell said quickly, trying to defuse the bomb he just started. "Hattie, it's okay."

"It's not," Hattie said. "If… if Voldemort's out there, like you say, then they died for nothing."

"He's weak," Quirrell said. "If the Ministry would just get their act together-"

"You said he's trying to get stronger," Hattie said. "They were just putting off the inevitable. And I completely forgot they died today."

"Hattie," Quirrell's voice was firm. "If you were my daughter, I would want you to be happy. I wouldn't want you to be upset every time the anniversary of my death rolled around. I'd want you to be strong and focus on the good."

Hattie sniffed, feeling the warm tears roll down her cheeks. "I can't do any of this," she said. "I can't protect myself, I can barely protect my friends." She let out a harsh laugh. "You know Ginny probably knows more curses and counter curses than I do. How am I supposed to defeat the world's most powerful wizard, short of Dumbledore?"

"He's weak," Quirrell said.

"So am I supposed to just escape Hogwarts and rush to you and ambush him?" Hattie asked.

Quirrell didn't say anything.

"Oh Merlin," Hattie said. "This is what this is about. You want me to face him now."

"He's weak," Quirrell repeated.

"No," Hattie said. "I'd make things worse. Get Dumbledore. Get anyone else. I can't do this."

"He's only going to get stronger," Quirrell said.

"I don't see why it has to be me," Hattie said.

"They don't tell you anything, do they?"

Hattie hesitated. Hermione wouldn't trust him. Hermione barely trusted Lupin, one of their Professors, and here Hattie was about to trust a Professor directly associated with Voldemort.

"There's a reason they're not telling me," Hattie said, trying to decide who 'they' was. "And I trust them more than I trust you."

"Wait," Quirrell said. "Hold on."

"I really do want to trust you," Hattie said, "but I just can't."

Hattie put the mirror back in her pocket. She heard him murmur, and she waited until it stopped. She rubbed her face with her sleeve before tossing the invisibility cloak back on and leaving the washroom. She passed Snape in the hallway, and she noticed his head turn as she walked by. Usually she waited so her footsteps wouldn't be heard, but she really just wanted to get back to her dorm. It was stupid, risking that much with Quirrell in her pocket, but Snape didn't follow the footsteps.

When Hattie stepped through the doorway, someone pulled the invisibility cloak off of her with an, "Ah-ha!"

Percy, of course. He already started scolding her, "Did you seriously think you would find Sirius Black when the entire Hogwarts staff searched the school?"

Hattie pulled the cloak out of his hands, but she didn't answer.

"Do you honestly expect me to not get you in trouble for this?" he asked. "Just because we had an adventure one time, it doesn't mean I'm going to let you keep doing stupid things. You can't keep putting Ron on the line. And I see the way Ginny follows you."

"Tell on me then," Hattie said. "I don't care."

Percy's face stayed hard as he tried to figure out what Hattie's angle was, but as she stood at the top of the staircase, Percy's face softened. He had forgotten too. "Hattie," he said. "I'm sorry, I didn't remember-"

"No, it's not even that," Hattie said, laughing coldly. "I can't use that as an excuse."

Percy tried to decipher her words as Hattie dropped on her bed in the Common Room. She actually had to pee, but she couldn't be bothered to get up. "Hattie," Hermione whispered.

"I forgot," Hattie said.

Hermione smiled in the darkness. "I didn't want to say anything. You were so happy at Hogsmeade and you've been so burned out lately."

Hattie wrapped around her pillow, staying on top of the sheets. She felt Quirrell's mirror in her pocket. The sorrow from the boggart-dementor wouldn't leave her. It was as if the weight of the world hung in a necklace around her neck. And somehow she had to find the time to be a happy kid and play games and make friends.

"I don't trust him anymore," Hattie said.

Hermione noticed Parvati stir. They were awake too. Hermione said, "It's going to be okay. I'll figure something out."

"How do you take all those classes and still find the time to solve everyone else's problems too?" Hattie asked. "I can barely learn one spell."

"You'll feel better tomorrow," Hermione said, quickly.

"I'll never feel better," Hattie said, stubbornly.

But Hermione didn't reply and Hattie decided to try to sleep, manoeuvring under her blankets. She wanted to be back at her flat with her Aunt where she'd solve all of Hattie's tiny problems. Hattie would be safe there, she knew, and if she kept everyone else there, they'd be safe too. Staying home with Aunt Petunia seemed like the perfect solution to all her problems, not to mention that it meant her Aunt would hold her and make her feel better like she always did.

Hattie felt a weight beside her on the bed. She turned over to find Quirrell beside her. He wrapped his arms around her and tucked his head next to hers. She felt the warmth spread through her. She felt his lips move against her, saying something, but she couldn't hear the words. Then she felt her sheets grow heavier and they spread into black robes. She was disoriented, but she was standing, and Quirrell was left kissing her hand.

And she felt disgust.

And she woke up.

She felt bile rise in her throat. She rushed out of her dorm and kicked open one of the stalls to throw up in the bathroom. Ginny was brushing her teeth. "Hattie?" she asked.

Hattie felt the contents of her stomach force their way out again.

"Merlin, Hattie," Ginny said, pulling Hattie's hair back. "What happened?"

Hattie instantly regretted racing Ron to see who could eat their Hogsmeade candy the fastest.

Hermione made her way into the bathroom, lightly pushing Lavender and Parvati aside. "Are you all right?" Hermione asked.

Hattie smiled. "Way too much food yesterday," she said. "It gave me nightmares and then it tried to escape this morning."

Within minutes, Hattie was back on her feet, brushing her teeth like Ginny.

The school talked of nothing but Sirius Black for the next few days, but Neville's involvement was generally kept under wraps. Even the twins and Lee Jordan kept their joking remarks to him on the down-low, and Hattie suspected that it was a ruse to get Neville to be the mascot again.

Hattie stopped talking to Quirrell, cold turkey. She needed to figure out a way to find out what his motives really were, but often when she was working on homework at night, she wondered if he kept the mirror on his desk, waiting for her to come on at her end.

But between Snape's gruelling lessons and Quidditch practice, Hattie was generally too burned out to think too much about anything. Hagrid's lessons were still awesome, dangerous, and interesting. Colin came down with the Quartet, Ginny, and the blonde to take pictures during their breaks. Hattie was putting together a photo album for Dudley for Christmas, but Ginny was doing most of the work.

Despite none of the students knowing about Neville, the staff definitely was aware of it. Neville constantly saw one of the Professors out of the corner of his eye, and he'd often announce to the rest of his friends that one of them helped him with directions around Hogwarts. Hattie noticed that even Snape kept an eye out for him, especially around Lupin.

And while Hattie wanted to ask Snape about his dislike for Lupin, he wasn't exactly the most open person.

Hattie walked down to the dungeons for her detention with Snape. Her Quidditch match was coming up, and she secretly joked to Ron that he was going to sabotage her before the game. She saw the door to his office open, and she started to walk in without knocking.

But she stopped in her tracks and pulled back.

She didn't see the whole thing, but Snape couldn't get control of the boggart. He kept saying 'Riddikulus', but the shape just stayed the same. Hattie couldn't be sure, but she thought she saw her dead body on the floor. But it could have been any another Hogwarts student with her hair.

She pulled the door nearly closed, hoping Snape hadn't heard her step in. She pressed her ear to the door, hearing his 'Riddikulus'es getting more and more hysterical.

And then it suddenly ceased. Hattie counted to sixty before knocking on the door.

"Get in here," he snarled. Hattie noticed his voice was hoarse.

Hattie stepped in. The closet that contained the boggart was completely gone. She hadn't heard Snape laughing it away either.

"You're late."

Convenient for you, Hattie thought. "Got caught up in a Quidditch debate with Ron."

"Ah yes, you're playing Slytherin this week," Snape said.

"I'm afraid I'm not going to throw the game," Hattie said, trying to lighten the mood, "regardless of how much you bribe me."

"I'd have nothing to bribe you with," Snape replied, "because I can't make you magically better at this."

Hattie instantly gave up on trying to cheer Snape up. She looked around the room for another closet. "So where's the boggart whose butt I'm going to kick?"

"He's on vacation, it got tired of sucking up your happy memories," Snape said. "Take a seat, I have a project for you."

"A project?" Hattie asked. She took a seat at the desk in his office designed for detention. "Does it involve arts and crafts?"

"Please, I'm in no mood, Miss Potter," Snape stated. "You are going to make a list of your happiest memories. Then you're going to think about them and decide which ones bring you the most joy. Do you remember that I assigned this assignment to you a while ago?"

"I've been thinking about it," Hattie said, defensive.

"Well, it's time to do it, Miss. Potter," Snape said, placing a paper in front of her.

Hattie stared at the blank page. Snape sat down at his desk. "What are you going to do while I'm working?" she asked.

"Grading these miserable papers," Snape replied. "You'll know when I reach yours because of the sighs."

"Sighs of approval," Hattie said hopefully.

Snape gave her a cold look before going back to his papers. Smiling to herself, Hattie began thinking about her happy memories. It wasn't easy. She wrote about flying with the Weasley's, preferably with Ginny on the broom. She drew a few stars in the border of the parchment. She sighed and stretched out her in her desk.

When she looked up she saw Snape glaring at her. "Sorry," she said.

She thought about his worst fear. Was it really her own death? Or was it just his own failure with her? No one assigned her to him as an assignment. But then she thought about Quirrell, and the possibility of him being assigned to her. She wrote down "talking to friends" because she couldn't exactly say "talking to secret friends who were once attached to Voldemort and who sort of tried to kill me but also kind of saved me and who currently might be trying to do one or the other."

She tried to draw Hedwig but gave up halfway through. Hattie started tapping her quill on her desk to think. Snape cleared his throat.

"With all due respect, Professor Snape," Hattie said. "This is stupid. I have plenty of happy memories it's just that I'm not strong enough yet to face one."

"Humour me, Miss. Potter," Snape said, not looking up from his pages.

Sighing, Hattie turned back to her paper. Smiling, she wrote down, "Detention with Snape and Fred." She chuckled at that thought.

"That sounds like a promising one," Snape murmured.

"Oh it is," Hattie replied.

She spent the rest of her detention doing doodles and writing down a handful of happy memories. Snape only kept her for an hour because he couldn't really keep her against her will since it wasn't actually a detention. So when she started getting too fidgety, Snape let her go.

She left the paper on his desk even though he didn't ask for it.

When she got back to the common room, Hattie was overwhelmed with Quidditch buzz. It had gotten out that Neville didn't want to be the mascot, and there were people ready to step into his place. But Oliver Wood didn't want anyone else. The team knew Neville's routine and they wouldn't find it too distracting, but with someone new, well, who knows what they'd do?

Neville sulked with Ron and Hermione in a corner of the Common Room. Hattie sat down with them. "So word got out," Hattie noted.

"I don't see why he won't do it," Ron said. "I'd do it."

"You know why I won't do it," Neville said. "There'll be a target on my back."

"I have the solution," George said, sitting down with them. "Costume modification."

Hattie knew it was George because Fred was busy talking in the third person on the other side of the room. Unless George was talking in the third person as Fred which had happened before, but it didn't seem likely today since Lee Jordan was in on the joke as well.

"What?" Neville asked.

"Well, Sirius Black obviously isn't going to know that you're the mascot because he's been in jail forever," George said. "So we modify your Lion's head so you no longer can see your face. That way you're just a dancing mascot. I know for a fact that the Slytherins have their own mascot this year, so you won't stand out."

"But what if he overhears someone talking about me as the mascot?" Neville asked. "No way, it's too risky."

"Everyone is going to be there," George said. "I will swoop down and attack Sirius Black myself. We need you."

Neville seemed to consider it, but he hesitated. "What if the other mascot attacks me? I've seen the mascots on Muggle sports."

"No one will hit you, I'll send a bludger in his direction if he even moves to your side of the field," George said.

Neville sighed. "Fine," he said.

"We've got Longbottom back on the team," George shouted, triumphantly.

There were various cheers, though the other mascot options were clearly disappointed.

The morning of the match, Neville was more nervous than Hattie. He constantly looked over his shoulder and he hardly ate anything. Hattie, as usual, stuffed her face to prepare. Rubeus didn't stop in, which wasn't exactly a bad thing. Rubeus had been particularly grouchy, and generally just stuck out his leg for the letter to be taken, and then he'd fly off. It didn't help Neville's mood any, so Hattie wasn't disappointed that he didn't show up.

It was pouring out, but the game carried on. Draco looked particularly furious at Hattie, though it may have just been the rain. She noticed that since Blaise took control of the Slytherins, Draco had been out of her face. She'd receive a glare from Draco from across the Great Hall, but Blaise didn't want to waste his time on the Quartet.

So Draco would take out his aggression on the Quidditch field, which generally just meant flying around furiously.

And they were off in the air. The raindrops stuck Hattie's eyelashes together, her hair clinging to her face. She was soaked within seconds, her robes weighing her down. Her eyes tried to scan for the snitch, but with the rain dripping into her eyes she had a hard time seeing. She tried to keep an eye on Draco to see if he swooped for anything.

He didn't, and Hattie desperately tried to find the snitch. She couldn't even hear Lee Jordan's commentary over the rain. She wondered how heavy Neville's mascot uniform was getting, and if he could see anything at all. She found her mind drifting, her focus fading as the cold seeped into her bones.

She flew in circles, teasing Draco with the thought that she might have the snitch. She just hoped he didn't spot it while she was irritating him. But she would have accepted a Slytherin victory, she just wanted this match to be over with.

"Potter!" Draco shouted over the wind and the rain.

"Malfoy!" Hattie shouted back.

He didn't say anything, lingering in the air for a while. Hattie started, "It's too cold to come up with a good insult!"

She couldn't tell if Draco was frowning or smirking. "Concurred, Potter!" he flew closer to her. "Let's stay in the same location, I watch this end of the field, and you watch this end. We shout if we see it, and then it all comes down to who is the best flyer!"

"Stay close then!" Hattie said. "I don't want you flying off and not shouting! That way at least I'll see you!"

"Same to you Potter!" Draco spat.

Both Hattie and Draco kept close together, keeping their eyes peeled for a flick of gold.

Hattie noticed her dog, the one that bowed to her. He was watching the game. Hattie noticed Neville looking at it, (or at least his lion's head was in that direction) and Hattie reminded herself to tell Neville that it wasn't the grim. It was a dog, a dog that bowed to her.

Then Hattie felt it. The weight. The cold. It wasn't the rain. She saw Draco dive, but it wasn't for the snitch. The dementors began surrounding her. She patted her pockets for her wand and pulled it out. She felt her vision fading. She heard the familiar screams of her mother.

The thoughts rushed through her head alongside the screams and pleas.

Quirrell is trying to kill you.

Your friendships could fall apart at any moment.

Your parents are dead.

You've trapped your guardian in a world she'll never fit into.

Lockhart is a fugitive because of you.

Hattie tried to think of her and Fred during the detention, sticking notes on each other and joking around with Snape. No one could joke around with Snape.

"Expecto-"

You are just a project to Snape.

"Expecto Patronum," Hattie whispered, forcing her wand out.

No one could joke around with Snape.

She was falling.

You can't protect your friends.

She heard her mother begging for her life.

And then she heard nothing.


End file.
